, Fraudulent Procurement Practices

Besides the turmoil that the Korle-Bu teaching Hospital finds itself in, information reaching The Enquirer suggests that pilfering of medical items, maladministration is causing the hospital several thousands of Ghana Cedis.

The paper is in firm grip of documents that suggests that a whopping GH¢400,000 or ¢4 billion has been lost by the hospital due to the purchasing of expired items and pilfering.

The items, which did not meet the minimum of 18 months expiry date period required for such items were imported in September, last year but were received in January, this year, and were nearing its expiry dates.

The procurement malpractice which persists at the hospital like nobody’s business has resulted in the expiry of laboratory reagents at the main laboratory which cast GH¢8,148.00 and another GH¢33,044.00 at the laboratory stores bringing the total cost of expiry reagents to GH¢41,192.00.

Again laboratory reagents amounting to GH¢32,625.00 were pilfered at the laboratory stores, while management lackadaisically looked on.

Reagents are a medical item used to detect measure and prepare another or other substances that take part in chemical reaction.

For instance, a reagent with code number 1933027 is to expire in March 2012, another with code number 8254898 is to expire in April, 2012, and another reagent with code number 1306025 would expire in May 2012.

According to the paper’s source at the nation’s premier hospital, such inimical practices if not abated would completely run down the hospital.

The procurement malpractice has been an avenue through which the actors continue to benefit year in year out whenever reagents are ordered and procured.

A document available to the paper indicates that the hospital purchased 82 reagents out of a total of 92, but all did not meet the minimum of 18 months expiry date period required for such items.

The irony is that the reagents may be used on patients and the consequences can be deadly, most of the reagents would expire much earlier before they could be consumed or used on patients.

There are situations where some of the ordered items are repeated on the invoice to inflate the total invoice amount.

The serious aspect of expired reagents is that when used on patients they generate false results that lead to wrong prescriptions and that result in complications of patient’s illness leading to their deaths.

To the estimation of the document the practice had been a regular feature over the years where large quantities of laboratory reagents are procured and are very close to expiry dates only to expire shortly after receipt.

“The hospital in turn loses huge sums of money in the process that affect efficient running of the hospital to the detriment of our poor patients,” the document noted, adding, “we believe some person have continued to benefit enormously from this wicked procurement arrangements in the hospital over the years.”