KABUL (Pajhwok): Pajhwok Afghan News findings show 30 to 37 million afghanis have been embezzled only in the purchase of five medical items by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
Pajhwok as a sample picked five medical items from the list of 43 items in the MoPH Coronavirus related contract and found a higher difference between the market price and the price on which these items were purchased under the MoPH contract. The lowest difference was 37 million afs.
This contract was inked on April 13, 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. Five items of this contract were picked as sample for investigation.
Purchase of 562 beds
According to the contract, the MoPH purchased 562 beds from a domestic producer each against 68,000 afs with the total cost reaching 38,000,216 afs.
But according to market price, a domestically produced bed with all its features is accounted for 28,000 afs and total beds cost 15,738,000afs. The lowest market rate for a single hospital bed was 17,000 afs that brings the total amount for 562 beds at 9,554,000afs.
The difference between highest market rate and the one on the basis of which beds were purchased was 22,480,000afs while the lowest was 28,662,000 afs.
2nd item: Purchase of 2,550 pillows
The MoPH purchased a pillow for 750 afs and the total rare of pillows reached 1,912,500 afs , but according to the market prices searched by Pajhwok a pillow is accounted for 125 afs and the total price of pillow stood at 318,750 afs. The difference between the two prices is 1,593,750 afs.
3rd item: Purchase of 5,100 blanket sheet
On the basis of the contract, the MoPH purchased each blanket sheet on 800 afs and 5,100 sheets conbsumed 4,080,000afs, but according to market price a blanket sheet is bought for 200 afs as its higher rate. The difference between the two prices is 3,060,000 afs.
4 item: Purchase of 5,100 bed sheets
Based on the contract, a bed sheet was purchased at 800 afs with total price accounted for 4,080,000 afs.
But according to Pajhwok assessment higher rate of bed sheet in the market was 250 afs while the lowest was 150 afs. This show that amount 2,008,050 afs have been embezzled based on the higher rate while 3,315,000 afs embezzled in the lowest market price.
5th item: Pillow Sheet
Under the contract, a pillow sheet is accounted for 250 afs and 5,100 pillow sheets were accounted for 1,275,000 afs. Pajhwok learned that the highest market price of a pillow sheet is 80afs and lowest 35afs.
Looking at the difference between the two prices at the lowest price, 1,096,500 afs have been embezzled while at the highest price 867,000 afs have been embezzled.
Pajhwok findings show that at the highest price difference a total of 37,829,250 afs had been embezzled while at the lowest price difference 30,104,500 afs had been embezzled in the purchase of total five items.
It is pertinent to mention that the prices of five items remained constant in Afghanistan during the three waves of the pandemic.
Legal procedure of contract:
Based on the procurement law, government institutes should follow procurement procedures including bidding, taking and reviewing of offers and finally awarding the contract to the most reasonable bidder within three months.
However, the contract is awarded based on special conditions and in urgency with total authority for procurement for prevention of Covid-19 spread.
According to MoPH figures, most of Covid-19 related contracts are signed without following procurement procedure and based on single source for urgency in the purchasing process.
However, Pajhwok Afghan News findings show that one of the reasons of high prices between MoPH contracts and market was single source contract.
On the other hand, officials in the Procurement Department of MoPH said that the reason behind high rates of equipment purchased based on contract was different times of purchase. They say the prices of the equipment werr higher at the time they were purchased compared to now.
Ahmad Amin Ayaz, spokesman of the National Procurement Authority (NPA), said that single source was one of legal methods of procurement which he added was mentioned in the article 18 of procurement law and articles 22 and 23 of Procurement Procedures.
He said that 90 or 95 percent of MoPH procurement contracts were signed based on single source and the reason was emergency condition.
About transparency in single source contracts and difference in prices, he said, “Observing projects is an important issue and it is the responsibility of the procurement organs… taking advantage of single source conditions if based on the procurement law has no any legal issues.”
The official said that based on the procurement law, using the single source method was allowed in three conditions.
- When the rate of a contract is up to 500,000 Afghanis.
- When it is emergency such as natural disasters, national security and others.
- When the manufacturing of a product or providing a service is in monopoly of a single company, or a single company is able to provide the needed product or service.
Mohammad Ali Mashal, an economist, said that as the foundations of a market economy were based on competition, it was not a legal issue if a single source procurement method was used in accordance with the law and procedure.
“Most of single source contracts in the country have problems. Not due to violation of law, but due to people who pave the way for misusing the law,” he said.
On the other hand, Asadullah Kargar, head of Afghanistan Medicinal Services’ Union, said that had MoPH asked for advices about the contracts, the union would have suggested fair prices and trusted companies to the ministry.
He said that the price of eight or nine types of medicine and medical equipment including sanitizers, masks, alcohol and some others soared due to high demand and they were imported from abroad.
However, he said other medical materials were obtained from domestic markets with almost fair prices.
MoPH view:
Dastgir Nazari, spokesman of MoPH about significant difference in market prices and contract based prices, said, “We did not purchase anything at higher rates. They were the prices in the market at the time. We should not forget that we were in an emergency, borders and flights were shut which was the reason of high rates. So the goods are not purchased on higher rates by MoPH and that issue has been investigated by many judicial sources.”
According to MoPH, all 19 contracts of the ministry were signed based on single source considering all legal conditions and observatory mechanisms from relevant sources.
Outcome:
Though MoPH links high prices of goods to emergency and general high rates, Pajhwok pricing from five major medical production companies in the country show that the rates of five items of materials remained unchanged during all three phases of Covid-19.
Pajhwok earlier also published reports that showed that MoPH had purchased medical equipment and materials many times higher compared to the market prices.
Nh/mds/ma
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