Corruption cripples Health
One of the health ministry's biggest challenges is the fact that the Central Medical Store has become a bottomless pit with no accountability.
Health minister Bernard Haufiku says corruption in his ministry is entrenched and is eating away at the ministry's purse, making it difficult to function adequately.
In an exclusive interview with Namibian Sun on Friday, he said the ministry's poor performance was caused by a multitude of problems and players, and also because people simply do as they wish. He said he was calling for a complete overhaul of the structures, including an improved management, procurement and distribution process, adding that if it didn't happen, the ministry would always be dogged with controversy and problems. One of the biggest challenges is the fact that the Central Medical Store has become completely “dysfunctional with no accountability mechanisms. It is actually a bottomless hole.
“There is not much accountability going on there. I was there two weeks ago and I learned that stock is ordered at the district at any time and any hospital requests. Apparently, there is a policy that no one must be denied medicine. So even if I gave you 100 items last week and today, you want another 100, I do not ask what happened to the other 100, I just supply,” he said. The ministry has also been forced to abandon an arrangement in which it hired a consortium of consultants from the United Kingdom to turn around operations at the Central Medical Stores last year.
Haufiku pointed out that the ministry is spending a lot of money on buy-out items, medicines which are specifically and individually prescribed to state patients, which are often at triple the actual market value.
“In many of the cases, the budget can be managed to get what is required but the way it is spent is unacceptable. Items sometimes are bought at prices three times that of the market price because there are so many interests inside and outside the ministry who prey on the procurement process,” he said. “Even our catering tenders are working against us. People have tenders but 80% of the work is done by our government employees. But, the final decision is made by the then tender board and not the ministry. The taking of the food to the patient, the cutlery, the pots they use, it is all government owned and paid for,” he said. The change in procurement procedures which has seen ministry purchases reside under the permanent secretary and no longer with the hospital itself, has made the system tedious, Haufiku said.
“The change in tender procedures, which saw the budget move to the direct supervision of the permanent secretary, has created huge bottlenecks. Anything that a district hospital needs is subjected to approval from the PS, even for basic items such as a light bulb. The rest has to go to central procurement board and this too, creates delays and other challenges,” he said. He is of the view that it makes sense that the management of any district hospital must be able to handle the budget of their hospital and be held accountable for every penny they spend.
JEMIMA BEUKES
In an exclusive interview with Namibian Sun on Friday, he said the ministry's poor performance was caused by a multitude of problems and players, and also because people simply do as they wish. He said he was calling for a complete overhaul of the structures, including an improved management, procurement and distribution process, adding that if it didn't happen, the ministry would always be dogged with controversy and problems. One of the biggest challenges is the fact that the Central Medical Store has become completely “dysfunctional with no accountability mechanisms. It is actually a bottomless hole.
“There is not much accountability going on there. I was there two weeks ago and I learned that stock is ordered at the district at any time and any hospital requests. Apparently, there is a policy that no one must be denied medicine. So even if I gave you 100 items last week and today, you want another 100, I do not ask what happened to the other 100, I just supply,” he said. The ministry has also been forced to abandon an arrangement in which it hired a consortium of consultants from the United Kingdom to turn around operations at the Central Medical Stores last year.
Haufiku pointed out that the ministry is spending a lot of money on buy-out items, medicines which are specifically and individually prescribed to state patients, which are often at triple the actual market value.
“In many of the cases, the budget can be managed to get what is required but the way it is spent is unacceptable. Items sometimes are bought at prices three times that of the market price because there are so many interests inside and outside the ministry who prey on the procurement process,” he said. “Even our catering tenders are working against us. People have tenders but 80% of the work is done by our government employees. But, the final decision is made by the then tender board and not the ministry. The taking of the food to the patient, the cutlery, the pots they use, it is all government owned and paid for,” he said. The change in procurement procedures which has seen ministry purchases reside under the permanent secretary and no longer with the hospital itself, has made the system tedious, Haufiku said.
“The change in tender procedures, which saw the budget move to the direct supervision of the permanent secretary, has created huge bottlenecks. Anything that a district hospital needs is subjected to approval from the PS, even for basic items such as a light bulb. The rest has to go to central procurement board and this too, creates delays and other challenges,” he said. He is of the view that it makes sense that the management of any district hospital must be able to handle the budget of their hospital and be held accountable for every penny they spend.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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