During PAC proceeding on the 5th of January, KJ said that: “Perolehan vaskin adalah literally a life and death issue.”
However today, while Pharmaniaga is selling 2 doses of Sinovac vaccine at the price of USD30 or roughly RM125 to the Malaysian Government, the same 2 doses of Sinovac vaccine is being sold at the price of RM300 to the state governments and private sectors.
Pharmaniaga is certainly allowed to make a profit. However, we should not allow them to profit abundantly from selling vaccines especially with a profit rate which is more than 100%. If vaccines are literally a life and death issue and a complete necessity then a government linked company cannot be allowed to profit this way.
Ceiling price proposed by Pharmaniaga was RM130 per dose. Again, KJ said in the PAC proceeding on July 27, 2021 that: “In my view right now, it is on a high side.”
Despite the announcement made by KJ that a ceiling price for the Sinovac vaccine would be set, the Government continues to allow Pharmaniaga to sell Sinovac vaccine at RM150 per dose until now.
Not only that, when Pharmaniaga failed to deliver the locally “Fill & Finished” Sinovac vaccines to Malaysian Government in May and July 2021, the Government was forced to buy 2.4 million doses of Sinovac vaccine (“Finished Product”), from Pharmaniaga at a higher price.
Why should the government pay for the 16.78% to 18.12% price hike? The price, if there is a difference, should be borne by Pharmaniaga as it is their contractual duty to deliver the vaccines to the Government.
Why are we allowing Pharmaniaga to have a monopoly on a procurement which has a life and death effect. How is the government allowing Pharmaniaga to operate in a manner which allows them to not only bully the Federal Government, but also state governments and the private sector? Why didn’t our Government do anything to rectify the unfairness?