KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24): Pharmaniaga Bhd has denied that the group ignored a letter of demand (LOD) issued by the Ministry of Health (MOH) regarding shortcomings in the procurement of faulty ventilators during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The pharmaceutical group said it is committed to the ongoing process of finding amicable and fair resolutions for the defective ventilators issue with MOH, "thus absolutely has neither refused to comply nor ignored the LOD received on Sept 13, 2023."
"In our reply to MoH’s LOD dated Sep 22, 2023, we have provided feedback based on the statements that we and other witnesses have given to the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC)," Pharmaniaga said in a statement to The Edge.
The group was responding to The Edge's Frankly Speaking column entitled 'Pharmaniaga sends the wrong message by ignoring demand letter' published on Nov 20.
Pharmaniaga went on to argue that the issue with the faulty ventilators is similar to the situation faced by other nations such as the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan.
"These countries, too, encountered challenges with defective imported ventilators during the Covid-19 pandemic," it said.
"We view that the ongoing discussion between PLSB (Pharmaniga's wholly-owned subsidiary Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd) and MOH on the defective ventilators as a unique and separate matter that happened during the pandemic and has no impact on any other business arrangements between the two parties," the group said, adding that the group has been a strategic logistics partner of the MOH for 28 years.
"Pharmaniaga highly values its longstanding partnership with MOH, and remains committed to address and resolve any issues that may arise, for the benefit of both parties," it said.
On Nov 15, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni told the Dewan Rakyat that his ministry is seeking advice from the Attorney General’s Chambers on the appropriate course of action to take against PLSB after it had refused to comply with the LOD issued by the MOH.
Lukanisman said MOH had issued an LOD for the reimbursement of RM15.34 million on Sept 13 and had given PLSB 14 days to respond.
Instead, the company responded by requesting that MOH withdraw the letter and expressed its readiness to negotiate the outstanding payment of RM1.07 million for the ventilation upgrade project.
This comes after the PAC published a report in October which revealed that the MOH had approved an allocation of RM30 million as downpayment to be paid to PLSB for the procurement of 500 ventilators, out of which 136 units were provided from April 1 to May 19, 2020, at a cost of RM20.125 million.
However, MoH informed the company that the ventilators were not compatible on June 4, 2020, as only 28 units were working. Further repairs and replacements resulted in just an additional four units being usable.
Added to the RM2.9 million for repairs, the government spent a total of RM23.03 million for the 136 ventilators, with only 32 working at the end.
The PAC report also revealed that there was no written contract or agreement drawn up between the MOH and PLSB on the procurement of ventilators, resulting in no party being able to be held accountable for the malfunctioning ventilators.
According to the report, deliberations, assessments and procurement decisions for ventilators were expedited via the WhatsApp application, bypassing standard procedures.