Papua New Guinea’s Auditor-General has questioned who approved a US-based international auditing firm to audit the awarding of contracts by the Health Department to pharmaceutical companies.

Acting Auditor-General Gordon Kega said his office should “sanction” the involvement of any private firm in the auditing of public funds.

“Under the Audit Act, we are supposed to sanction private auditors to audit public funds,” he said.

Kega said his office was not consulted when the Forensic Technologies International (FTI), a business advisory firm from the United States, was called in to carry out the audit after concerns were raised about the way AusAid funding was being used by the department to procure pharmaceutical supplies.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament also conducted a commission of inquiry into the AusAid funding complaint.

Kega said the FTI audited the Health Department “without our authorisation”.

“And that report has been given to the police to carry out investigations,” Kega said.

Police have own jurisduction
“But then the police have their own jurisdiction to investigate any information they [receive] from complainants.

“We are available to clarify our position [with police] on the sanctioning of private auditors such as the FTI.”

He distanced the office of the Auditor-General from the auditing of Ausaid funding to procure pharmaceutical supplies.

The police said the work of the FTI had been approved by the government and funded by AusAid.

Chief Inspector Joel Simatab said the police had already received the FTI report and were awaiting the one from PAC chairman Sir John Pundari.

“The FTI report was sanctioned by the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council while the PAC report was sanctioned by Parliament,” he said.

The FTI and PAC conducted their enquiries in August last year.

“We received the FTI report first.

Both inquiries ‘similar’
“Both enquires are similar but PAC has statutory powers to summon people, seize confidential documents from the banks, companies, service providers and government departments,” he said.

He said the FTI “has no statutory power and so their report is not really in detail”.

“What they did was look into the tender of contracts, procurement, delivery of medical drugs and the lack of consultation between service providers and the provincial health authorities,” he said.

“PAC has the authority to go into detail.”

He said they had the same aim of finding out the processes of procuring medicines for the people of PNG.

“So while we are investigating the FTI report, we are mindful of the PAC report.

“Once we receive it from PAC, we will cross-check both recommendations [before we] conduct criminal investigations.”

The Pacific Media Centre publishes The National news reports with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

COMMENTARY: By Scott Waide

In Lae City, Papua New Guinea’s second-largest city, there are seven urban clinics, each serving between 100 and 150 patients a day.  They get their medical supplies form the Government Area Medical Store (AMS) in Lae.

The AMS  in Lae also supplies the Highlands and the rest of Momase.

For the last six years, staff at the clinics have  been battling  medicine shortages.  You can see,  first hand,  how the medicine shortage affects people in Lae.

READ MORE: PNG faces ‘catastrophe’ if no crisis action taken

At Buimo Clinic on Friday,  a mother and baby came in  for treatment.  She  was  told that the last bottles of Amoxicillin suspensions would be given for her child  and that she  would have to go to a pharmacy to complete the treatment course.

The woman’s name is Merut Kilamu.  She lives with her family at Bundi Camp in Lae.  She is not just a statistic.  She is a real person who is bearing the brunt of the ongoing medicine shortages.

-Partners-

“Sometimes, we are able to buy the medicine,” she says. “Other times,  when we don’t have the money, we can’t buy what we need.”

Patients go from the clinics to  Angau Hospital in the hope that they will get  the medicines  they need. But Angau can’t handle the numbers.  Hospital staff have even  posted on Facebook saying they too need the basic supplies of antibiotics, antimalarial drugs and consumables like gauze, gloves and syringes.

Hospitals and clinics have become little more than prescription factories channeling their patients to pharmacies who charge the patients upwards of K40 (about NZ$18) for medicines. Pharmacies are profiting from the desperation and ill health of the Papua New Guineans.

Prices increased
In 2017, when clinics ran out of antimalarial drugs, pharmacies increased the prices.

In some instances, officers in charge of clinics felt the need to negotiate with pharmacies to keep their prices within an affordable range.  It is difficult for staff in smaller clinics to send away patients knowing they can’t afford  to pay for medicines.

“Sometimes, we can’t send them away. Staff have to fork out the money to help them pay,” says Miriam Key, nurse manager at Buimo  clinic.

This is a nationwide medicine shortage!

As much as  the politicians dislike it, social media gives a pretty accurate dashboard view of the health system from the end user.  Charles Lee posted on Facebook about how the medicine shortage was affecting his family in Mt Hagen.

“Relatives in Hagen have flown to POM to seek medical treatment because of a shortage of drugs in Hagen.”

His post drew more than 20 comments.

Gloria Willie  said from Mt Hagen:

“They just discharged a relative from ICU and we are taking her to Kundjip (Jiwaka Province)  today and if they are not allowed to receive  medical attention then, we are also planning to bring her to port Moresby. It is really frustrating.  But because of our loved ones, we are trying any possible way to have them treated.”

‘Stay at home’
Melissa Pela responded saying:

“Same here in Kavieng. Patients told to buy Panadol and keep at home. If you feel something like fever/running nose etc.. just take it. They say treat it before it becomes serious because there is simply no medicine.”

The officer in charge of Barevaturu clinic in Oro Province, Nigel Tahima,  said by phone,  the  they are seeing an increase in the number of patients  because other clinics just don’t have  medicine.

The reports are flooding in from all over the country. There are too many to mention in one blog post.

If urban clinics are a gauge to measure the flow of medicines from the AMS to the patient, you can imagine what rural clinics are going through.

They are too far from the AMSs and too far to adequately monitor. The only way to get an understanding of their problems is when staff make contact or when you go there.

Scott Waide’s blog columns are frequently published by Asia Pacific Report with permission. He is also EMTV deputy news editor based in Lae.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Scott Waide, EMTV journalist and blogger

Survivors in Papua New Guinea’s earthquake in the Highlands face tough challenges. And so do the relief agencies and government authorities trying to deliver support to them.

Many of the worst affected areas in Hela and the Southern Highlands provinces are in isolated spots.

The people don’t live in large villages that you see on the coast. They live in small hamlets of 5-10 houses spread out over a plateaus or valleys.

They have no road access.

Many have to walk for hours to get within line of site of a mobile telecommunications tower in order to send a text message. Data signals are too weak and problematic.

For other locations, it takes more than a day.

Some of the villages are relatively close to the LNG site. But it looks deceptively close on a map.

Difficult to reach
What you’re dealing with on the ground are terrains that are extremely difficult to reach – even within a day’s walk. That is precisely why helicopters are vital in this disaster.

In some villages, people have had to build helipads on mountainsides to allow for medical teams to land safely.

Chopper pilot Eric Aliawi, who took an EMTV crew to one of the locations, had to land on three logs that had been placed on a spot dug out on a mountain side because the helipad had not been completed.

Even after landing, the crew and the doctors had to walk for about half an hour to get to the village.

A few commentators have said that the people affected are subsistence farmers and that they still have food to eat because they plant crops.

The reality is that their gardens have been destroyed and it is dangerous for them to go into the foothills and the valleys, or mountainsides, because of the ongoing aftershocks.

Trauma of death
They are also dealing with the trauma of the death and destruction that happened in their villages. They will have to adjust to normal life as time goes by.

Their houses have been destroyed and they have moved from the locations of their hamlets to central locations like schools, airstrips and mission stations to seek help.

Congregating in large numbers in one location is unusual for them. Losing their independence and relying on someone to give them food is also not something they are accustomed to.

They need is help to get back on their feet and resume their way of life.

They need the following:
Good quality tarpaulins for shelter – They live in a high rainfall area. The temperature drops rapidly at night and without shelter, young children and older people will get sick.

Food – With limited access to their gardens, food is a priority for them.

Water – Their water sources have been polluted. They need large water containers, tanks and clean water (as an immediate need).

Cooking pots – This is important if they are to boil drinking water.

Warm clothes + blankets – Sweaters, hoodies and simple blankets will help a lot to ease their burden. It is not as important as the others mentioned, but it will help.

Children’s clothing – also not an immediate priority but it will help a lot.

6 to 15cm nails and tools – in order to rebuild their houses, they need nails and tools like bush knives, axes and hammers. It is very difficult to obtain items like this where they are.

Disposable delivery trays, disposable suture trays – during the earthquake, sterilisation equipment at the Tari Hospital was damaged. The doctors need this to send to aid posts so that health workers can handle deliveries and other treatment.

The government contacts are:

Thomas Eluh – PA for Southern Highlands

Joseph Bando – PA Hela Province

Dr Tana Kiak – Tari Hospital

Inbox Scott Waide on Facebook for contact details, or text him on +675 70300459. Or email scott.waide@gmail.com for information. This article was first posted on Scott Waide’s blog, My Land, My Country.

• More PNG earthquake reports

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz