KUALA LUMPUR: Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) has called on Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to look into the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on defective ventilators supplied to the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its president, Dr Muhammad Mohan, said the report highlighted a breach of procurement protocols where 104 out of the 136 ventilators ordered were unusable.
"The PAC report indicates that the culture of accountability is almost non-existent in the public procurement system.
"It is shocking to know that deals on emergency procurement of ventilators were done via WhatsApp.
"The official procurement confirmation must come through a proper supply contract with clear specifications of the product, the warranties, suppliers' obligations on the testing and commissioning, deliverables and technical support."
He said the procurement must follow the set standard operating procedure (SOP) of the ministry despite the pandemic.
"We strongly urge the current Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to drill into this issue and explain in the media or parliament what action is taken to address this issue and how the ministry intends to prevent this from recurring.
"If there are elements of bribery or corruption involved, it must be reported to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)," he said.
He added that Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd go-betweens role was also concerning.
"They were asked to be a middleman to supply RM24.1 million (136 ventilators) without a proper contract."
It was indeed unusual, he said, that the integrity and compliance unit within the Health Ministry did not exercise oversight in this matter, or is it possible that a higher authority chose to override their recommendations, thereby deviating from established procedures?
"Civil servants are not speaking up. This is the problem in our country. They fail to understand that civil servants have fiduciary duties to protect taxpayers' money."
On Monday, the PAC revealed that no action could be taken over the defective Covid-19 ventilators supplied to the government following the absence of a written agreement between the Health Ministry (and Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd (PLSB).
In the report published on its website, PAC said PLSB was also instructed to make advance payments for ventilators following its existing relationship with the ministry despite not having experience and expertise in medical equipment procurement.
At the same time, PAC added that it found discrepancies between the statement provided by the ministry and PLSB relating to the warranties for all 136 ventilator units.
While documents submitted by PLSB had indicated that the supplier provided the warranty, PAC said the quotation documents, however, covered only some 136 units, and no acknowledgement of receipt was provided.
The committee added that the role of PLSB in the issue was also still uncertain and prevented any legal procedures from being conducted.
Previously, the Auditor's General Report for 2021 had revealed that only 28 of 136 ventilators produced by PLSB for the Health Ministry from 2020 to 2022 were in working order.
