KUALA LUMPUR – Those responsible for procuring unusable ventilators for the Health Ministry during the Covid-19 pandemic should be identified and held accountable, the health minister’s special adviser, Dr Kelvin Yii, said.
The Bandar Kuching MP also suggested the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission step in to investigate if there was undue influence in the selection of suppliers from China who ultimately delivered ventilators that failed to work.
In a statement today, Yii said procurement for health equipment, even in a time of emergency, should not be “‘done through WhatsApp as if shopping on TaoBao or Shopee”.
“While we understand that it was a time of emergency, it does not give excuse to bypass basic fundamental procurement procedures and safeguards especially when it involves millions of public funds.
“From there we should identify personnel who made decisions to forgo the need for the most basic step in any procurement process, which is a signed contract or agreement which will give better legal protection for the Health Ministry and the different parties that are involved against liability or incidents such as this,” Yii said.
He was responding to the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report released yesterday, which affirmed earlier findings by the Auditor-General’s Report that Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd had supplied the Health Ministry with only 28 usable ventilators, out of 500 units ordered.
Another 108 ventilators, among the 136 that were delivered to ministry facilities between April and May 2020, were not safe for patient use.
The PAC report stated that RM23.03 million was spent in total for the 136 units that were delivered and for repairs and replacements on the unusable ones.
However, as no agreement was signed between Pharmaniaga Logistics and the Health Ministry, no action can be taken against the former.
Pharmaniaga Logistics is a fully owned subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga Bhd, a government-linked company.
Yii said more should be done to demand accountability and clearly establish the different parties who are responsible for the negligence.
“From these elements of ‘negligence’ we should dig deeper to establish greater accountability especially to those involved.
“While the current leadership in the Health Ministry are taking extra steps to ensure such incidents do not occur and ensure fundamental governmental procedures are adhered to in future dealings, even in emergencies and pandemics, (this) does not mean that no one should be held accountable.”
The ventilators were purchased by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin ’s administration in 2020 after the Sheraton Move.
Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba was health minister then, while then transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong was recorded in the PAC report as playing an important role in providing the contact for the China supplier of the ventilators. – October 31, 2023