PPDA orders fresh tendering of dialysis services: Controversial Fresenius given another chance
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has given second chance to controversial South African owned dialysis operator Fresenius Medical Care (FMC).
In a letter to secretary of health dated February 1, PPDA has been ordered to retender the procurement of dialysis services across the country.
FMC previously had lost both the technical and financial evaluations for the same but the company which is riddled with bribery allegations is reported to have captured officials at Ministry of Health to push for its contracts.
In another letter, PPDA even rejected ministry of health’s proposal to give contract for operating dialysis clinic at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) citing massive irregularities in the manner in which the award was done.
Meanwhile, sources at PPDA say they have been coming under heavy pressure from senior officials at the ministry of health to award the contract to FMC amid gratification allegations against officials.
Currently, the dialysis services at KCH are run by World Wide Pharmaceuticals for Nipro of Japan while at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital the current service provider is FMC.
Both service providers have been given six months extension until ministry of health identifies new providers.
Fresenius was awarded Queen’s Hospital contract without any tendering and there are strong rumours making rounds that ministry officials are bound to cut corners in order to give the company monopoly of all dialysis clinics across the country.
Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) recently warned against dealing with FMC over its reputation that it doled out millions of dollars in bribes across the globe to gain a competitive advantage in the medical services industry.
This comes barely days after the Transparency International ranked Malawi one of most corrupt countries on earth. In its report, the corrupt watchdog says Malawi is worse now than it was in 2012.
It is sad to know that our minister don’t have integrity. There is no smoke without fire.
Inu sizoti public pokuwament zo yi. Perrkani ndalama kwa aDokotala akulu ku cancer ko akagule okha matchine osati zoti tender tender apa. Ma patients a Cancer ali ndi association, pali Chairman wao. Apite naye limodzi kokagula matchine. Iwo ndi amene angaziwe bwino kugula osati zoti pokuwamenti kutuma lay man pankhani ya chipatala kumangoti Matchine awa ndi abwino atagula cho tchipa. Akalandila covid 19 astrazenica a Chairman atha kuyenda kupita kukasankha mkugula ndi aDocotala awo aku Kamuzu Central ndi ku Queens. The expensive the best.