Be careful in procurement

I REFER to the report “Health minister meets 400 doctors” (The Star, Feb 23; online at https://bit.ly/3m3OhnF), which says Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa had told doctors who attended the meeting to look out for announcements that will be made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the Budget 2023 speech on Friday.

Her statement implies that many of the solutions to solving the problems in our public healthcare service hinge on Budget 2023.

I fully support the allocation of more funds to the Health Ministry because it needs a very large budget to repair old and worn out facilities and replace outdated equipment. There is also a dire need to build new hospitals as the existing ones are consistently overcrowded.

While additional allocations may resolve issues pertaining to facilities and manpower, problems like bullying by egoistic senior doctors, departmental and disciplinary service heads, inefficient and snail-paced gazettement and placement of newly qualified specialists, ambiguous and often unjust assessment policies, and the overall inhumane and unfair treatment of medical professionals and allied staff will need other methods of resolution.

This is a legacy issue that has been thrust onto the unity government and the new Health Minister.

The Health Ministry must tighten its procurement procedures to ensure that there are no leakages and corrupt practices through inflated pricing.

A good example is the procurement of medical equipment and drugs, which should be purchased direct from manufacturers instead of going through middlemen, agents or distributors.

For foreign manufacturers, the Health Minister must use government-to-government (G2G) bilateral arrangements in the procurement process to ensure fair pricing.

The Health Ministry must also ensure that any equipment purchased is supplied, installed and commissioned according to established standards and specified deadlines, and has a defined warranty period and maintenance contract. Training must also be provided for the staff who will operate the equipment.

When procurement is done via the G2G process, tax exemptions can also be sought and obtained, which would mean the purchasing price could be reduced. The money saved can be used for other deserving purposes.

The people in charge at the Health Ministry must also ensure that only those with in-depth knowledge of the equipment/articles to be purchased are involved in the procurement process.

I fervently hope the Health Ministry will be given a larger allocation from Budget 2023 and that it will value and safeguard every sen that it receives.

ROSLAN SHARIF

Bangi, Selangor