PRESIDENT Lungu should remove lunatics from the Ministry of Health who are giving contracts to companies that do not exist, says pharmacist Jerome Kanyika.
Kanyika, the Pharmaceuticals Society of Zambia (PSZ) president, has expressed concern and shock that the Ministry of Health has given a $17 million contract to a retail outlet that has no record of supplying to the institution.
“Mission Pharma, the owner of the contract, was owed $11 million by Ministry of Health but it goes to offer the same contract to another company which was not the cheapest and has no tract record leaving out Pharma, which also participated and was among the cheapest with a good track record and quality products,” Kanyika lamented in a statement.
He wondered how a normal workforce would do the aforesaid when the country was grappling with serious shortages of essential medicines.
Kanyika said his association was now tired of covering up the Minister of Health’s inadequacies by lying to the public every time he appeared on camera stating that the country was well stocked while they have serious shortages.
“We are failing to understand how a normal and competent person can supervise such works. It’s only a lunatic that can do that. Currently, we have serious shortages of essential medicines, theater drugs, pethidine, anti-diabetics such as insulin and antihypertensive, which are lifesaving drugs. We want to state also that we are tired of covering up the Minister of Health for his inadequacies by lying to the public every time he comes with cameras that we are well stocked while we have serious shortages,” he said.
Kanyika has further asked President Lungu to drop Dr Chilufya so that the damage could be controlled.
The News Diggers last week revealed that the government, through the Ministry of Health, last year awarded a $17 million contract for the supply of health centre kits to a company called Honey Bee Pharmacy Limited, which does not exist.
According to News Diggers, the Ministry disregarded the existing supplier of drugs and centre kits, Mission Pharma, who it owed $11 million.