Serious action must be taken and parties responsible must be held accountable after the revelations by the Auditor-General’s report that 108 out of 136 (68%) of ventilators supplied by a company to Ministry of Health (MoH) facilities between 2020 and April 2022 could not be used.
Such life-saving equipments were so vital during the Covid-19 pandemic, and such negligence not only caused wastage of public funds, but more importantly may have compromised the quality care of patients which may have even caused loss of precious lives.
Based on the report, Pharmaniaga Logistics was chosen to buy 500 ventilators during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the company only managed to supply 136 ventilators and out of that only 28 were usable and the remaining 108 ventilators were not safe for use on patients.
Which means the company only properly supply less than 6 per cent of its order (28 ventilators) during a time of crisis, when at its peak, healthcare workers were struggling to find such life-saving equipments.
This caused not only an estimated loss of RM13.07 million of precious funds, but more importantly, contribute directly to possible loss of lives that could have easily been avoided if the healthcare workers had the required medical equipments during that period of time.
We can never forget especially during the peak wave of Covid-19, with many hospitals around the country struggling to keep Covid-19 patients alive amid shortages of staff, oxygen supply, and medication.
Wards were full, while equipment like ventilators and oxygen canisters are insufficient. Some medical professionals were put in the impossible position to prioritise certain medical equipments including ventilators for certain patients over the others which will definitely affect the quality of care for other patients.
In the same report, it also entails that the government could not claim for the losses from the 93 defective ventilators, estimated by the national audit to be RM13.07 million, “because there were no documents on the appointment of the procurement of ventilators between the company and MOH.
The reason given on why no agreement was signed with Pharmaniaga Logistics because the procurement of ventilators was done under “emergency procurement protocols.”
However that begs the question that even though it is an “emergency procurement” , why wasn’t proper documents prepared and signed especially when it involves millions of ringgit of public funds.
Wouldn’t that have given better legal protection for the Ministry of Health and the different parties that are involved against liability or incidents such as this.
That is why I believe the different parties that are involved have to answer and be accountable and this matter must not be taken lightly or swept under the carpet.
If proven there are elements of negligence, action has to be taken and the ones responsible must be held accountable as such actions would have also directly jeopardised the quality of care of patients especially during the pandemic.