MoHSS still open to working with \'reasonable middlemen\'
Luvindao unapologetic about financial efficiency
Health minister Dr Esperance Luvindao says the ministry is still open to working with “reasonable” middlemen for its clinical and pharmaceutical procurement, but those “robbing the government blind” by inflating costs will be excluded.
Luvindao recently announced that this strategy is already paying off, with savings of more than N$221 million recorded during her first six months in office.
Speaking on NTV talk show The Agenda, airing this Sunday, Luvindao debunked the notion that her actions would negatively affect Namibian businesses who worked as intermediaries in the ministry’s procurement chain – including job losses.
“A particular notion has been driven to say Luvindao has a problem with middlemen. I want to clarify that we have no problem with middlemen at all, I have a huge respect for them,” she said.
“But, and this is not a mere example, when a drug costs N$100 million and you’re charging us N$450 million, that’s not doing business. That’s robbing the government. I have no problem with middlemen, intermediaries, suppliers – you name it. Just do business correctly.”
Under Luvindao, the health ministry recently started to directly engage with international medical suppliers and manufacturers to buy medicine – bypassing some local middlemen suppliers.
Despite this, Luvindao says the ministry is still doing business with local suppliers. “We are still using local suppliers. We have given the regions funds to purchase some supplies locally in the short term.”
She set clear conditions through which government would continue to make more use of local suppliers.
“If the drug costs N$100 million and you charge us a reasonable mark-up, that’s OK. If you can offer us the best lead time, that’s OK.”
She said the notion that cutting out expensive middlemen from the health supplies procurement chain will disadvantage the local economy is misplaced.
“The money saved enables us to hire more nurses, doctors and investing in infrastructure. The money saved is not kept to ourselves, it will be redirected to other economic activities. If we’re investing in infrastructure, it is likely a local company will be hired to do that job. So it’s not correct to say we’re killing the economy when we deal with the issue of middlemen...”
“If you charge reasonable profits, we will use you. But if it’s a case whereby you’re blindly robbing the government, we won’t.”
The minister came under criticism recently after her email to international manufacturers soliciting quotes was leaked. Critics questioned why the minister was personally involved in matters of procurement instead of leaving that function to relevant officials in the minister.
Luvindao said there was nothing sinister about taking the lead, saying she felt that potential suppliers would react faster if the request came from the level of a minister.
“The leaked email maybe created an impression that the message was sent to one particular company. But it was actually sent to hundreds of potential suppliers, and we did this deliberately so that we see who responds with the best offer in terms of pricing, quality, lead time and so forth.”
She said all relevant ministerial staff, including members of the in-house procurement committee were copied in, as well as regulatory authorities responsible for quality checks and medicine approvals.
The full interview with Luvindao will air this Sunday on Network TV (DStv channel 285 and GOtv channel 25) at 20h00.
Luvindao recently announced that this strategy is already paying off, with savings of more than N$221 million recorded during her first six months in office.
Speaking on NTV talk show The Agenda, airing this Sunday, Luvindao debunked the notion that her actions would negatively affect Namibian businesses who worked as intermediaries in the ministry’s procurement chain – including job losses.
“A particular notion has been driven to say Luvindao has a problem with middlemen. I want to clarify that we have no problem with middlemen at all, I have a huge respect for them,” she said.
“But, and this is not a mere example, when a drug costs N$100 million and you’re charging us N$450 million, that’s not doing business. That’s robbing the government. I have no problem with middlemen, intermediaries, suppliers – you name it. Just do business correctly.”
Under Luvindao, the health ministry recently started to directly engage with international medical suppliers and manufacturers to buy medicine – bypassing some local middlemen suppliers.
Despite this, Luvindao says the ministry is still doing business with local suppliers. “We are still using local suppliers. We have given the regions funds to purchase some supplies locally in the short term.”
She set clear conditions through which government would continue to make more use of local suppliers.
“If the drug costs N$100 million and you charge us a reasonable mark-up, that’s OK. If you can offer us the best lead time, that’s OK.”
She said the notion that cutting out expensive middlemen from the health supplies procurement chain will disadvantage the local economy is misplaced.
“The money saved enables us to hire more nurses, doctors and investing in infrastructure. The money saved is not kept to ourselves, it will be redirected to other economic activities. If we’re investing in infrastructure, it is likely a local company will be hired to do that job. So it’s not correct to say we’re killing the economy when we deal with the issue of middlemen...”
“If you charge reasonable profits, we will use you. But if it’s a case whereby you’re blindly robbing the government, we won’t.”
The minister came under criticism recently after her email to international manufacturers soliciting quotes was leaked. Critics questioned why the minister was personally involved in matters of procurement instead of leaving that function to relevant officials in the minister.
Luvindao said there was nothing sinister about taking the lead, saying she felt that potential suppliers would react faster if the request came from the level of a minister.
“The leaked email maybe created an impression that the message was sent to one particular company. But it was actually sent to hundreds of potential suppliers, and we did this deliberately so that we see who responds with the best offer in terms of pricing, quality, lead time and so forth.”
She said all relevant ministerial staff, including members of the in-house procurement committee were copied in, as well as regulatory authorities responsible for quality checks and medicine approvals.
The full interview with Luvindao will air this Sunday on Network TV (DStv channel 285 and GOtv channel 25) at 20h00.
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