The Health Ministry is to procure vaccines \u00a0for the\u00a0deadly pneumococcal meningitis through sole sourcing due to the intensity of the outbreak of the disease in parts of Ghana.<\/p>\n
The Health Minister Alex Segbefia revealed that he has given a directive for the procurement of vaccines to deal with the disease on Monday.<\/p>\n
The virus has so far killed 33 people and is spreading to other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”DCflVg3uVIVrWMMXPnvend95mhIjzQtS”]Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee hearing today, Mr Alex Segbefia said his Ministry is going into sole sourcing to secure the vaccines.<\/p>\n
According to Mr Segbegia, circumstances dictate whether an item would require sole sourcing or not and stated the ongoing meningitis outbreak warranted\u00a0use of sole sourcing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have just had to do a sole sourcing for a vaccine for meningitis because normally, that will go through a normal process but because there is a potential issue happening, they have gone into sole sources because we have looked at those who have them in stock immediately in stock in the country to get them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further noted this particular process of sole sourcing for the vaccines was done with the approval of the procurement board.<\/p>\n
Some individuals and anti-corruption groups have cited the area of procurement as one that required re-evaluation by the government if the fight against corruption is to be successful.<\/p>\n
They note the tendency for abuse of public funds by officials given the several loopholes in the current procurement law which are being exploited by public officials for personal gain.<\/p>\n
The sole-sourcing provision has turned out to be one of the main loop-holes being exploited by public officials and businesses against the interest of the state.<\/p>\n
IMANI Ghana, for example, believes that scandals such as the one involving the Driver and Vehicular Licensing Authority (DVLA), where $3.6 million for the supply of equipment to print drivers\u2019 licenses interestingly grew into $9.9 million might not have occurred with a more efficient procurement law.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Health Ministry is to procure vaccines \u00a0for the\u00a0deadly pneumococcal meningitis through sole sourcing due to the intensity of the outbreak of the disease in parts of Ghana. The Health Minister Alex Segbefia revealed that he has given a directive for the procurement of vaccines to deal with the disease on Monday. The virus has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n