Audit report: MOH faces scrutiny as MPs question defective supplies

 

PARLIAMENT | The Health Ministry (MOH) has been put in the spotlight as several MPs raised questions surrounding defective Covid-19 supplies and equipment waste during the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report debate.

The issues highlighted in the Dewan Rakyat today were the supply of defective ventilators, the extremely low usage of personal protection equipment, and the MySejahtera data breach in 2021.

Jimmy Puah (Pakatan Harapan-Tebrau) took the lead by mentioning that the defective supplies were provided during the Covid-19 emergency and that the MOH did not conduct proper documentation with its suppliers.

He stated that the ministry bought 136 ventilators, but only 28 of them can be used, leaving the ministry with 108 damaged machines.

Puah (above) said out of the 108, only 15 were returned to the manufacturer for replacement.

“As many as 93 ventilator units provided by a supplier company worth RM13 million could not be used due to defects.

“There was no appointment document for the procurement of ventilators between the supplier and the ministry… That is the danger when an emergency is declared just like that,” Puah said.

Lee Chean Chung (Harapan-Petaling Jaya) also chimed in on the matter, highlighting the impact of faulty ventilators on patients heavily impacted by Covid-19.

“It's not about the loss (of cost), but the people are suffering. The people needed help during the pandemic to keep breathing and to survive.

“But the ventilators that were received did not meet the requirements.

“Only a small part of the ventilators can be used safely… This increases the patients’ health risk and shows the weaknesses in the transition process of medical equipment,” Lee stressed.

On Feb 16, according to the second series of the Auditor-General's Report 2021, the ministry ordered 136 ventilators for a price tag of RM20.1 million under emergency allocation. However, it was later found that some could not be used.

The machines, ordered from overseas manufacturers through an unnamed local company, were meant to beef up government hospitals’ medical assets during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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.

Meanwhile, Lee brought up the issues surrounding the MySejahtera application, which were included in the audit report, such as the app's security.

The Petaling Jaya MP also suggested the MOH conduct housekeeping for the app, starting by removing accounts of deceased individuals and referring to the National Registration Department to update the app’s data.

“This is crucial to safeguard data security and ensure that the application is not misused by individuals to obtain vaccinations and treatment in the future.

"Efforts to improve the MySejahtera application are also essential to address the issue of system security, as there have been numerous scam cases related to MyKad and phone number leakages.

"However, detailed explanations regarding the leakage by ‘super admins’ are not provided, causing concerns about security,” he added. - Mkini