108 incompatible ventilators: Improve procurement, MOH says

 

The government needs to improve its procurement procedures during times of emergency, Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni told the Dewan Rakyat today.

This, according to Lukanisman (GPS-Sibuti), is so that public funds would not be wasted again as what happened in the procurement of over 100 ventilator machines in 2021.

“I agree with the concern shared by Jelutong MP (RSN Rayer) about the government procurement process.

“Should we face another state of emergency, we need to have a proper process in place, including the need to prepare an agreement (with the equipment supplier).

“The problem we see here happened because we did not have a specific agreement on the purchase of these ventilators. So I hope that the Public Accounts Committee can hold a proceeding on this issue,” he said.

Lukanisman (above) was answering an additional question posed by Rayer on the procurement of ventilators by the federal government during the health emergency two years ago.

A ventilator is a critical life-saving equipment and was in high demand at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing Putrajaya to order 136 units in 2021.

However, 108 of the machines supplied to the Health Ministry were found to be incompatible. This caused the government to sustain some RM13 million in losses, according to an audit by the National Audit Department (NAD).

‘Suppliers took advantage’

According to Lukanisman, the pandemic saw competition among countries to get ventilator machines, which caused suppliers to take advantage by increasing their prices up to 400 percent.

Travel restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak had also prevented Health Ministry officials from visiting the equipment supplier in China, and they had to place orders only based on brochures and catalogues sent by the company.

"According to government procurement procedures during the emergency, the ministry was not required to prepare any agreement document for this procurement.

"This was among the factors why the supplier may have taken advantage of the situation to deliver ventilators that do not meet our specifications," he said.

According to the Auditor-General's Report 2021, the Health Ministry purchased 136 ventilators for RM20.1 million under emergency allocation.

However, the ministry later found out that some of them were incompatible with their use.

Following this, the government had to fork out another RM3.97 million for upgrading works by the same company, making the total costs for its ventilator procurement rise to RM24.07 million.

Despite the upgrades, NAD's audit of the Health Ministry’s Covid-19 procurements revealed that only 28 of the ventilators were considered safe for use. - Mkini