Health clears Vahekeni, finance unimpressed

Health clears Vahekeni, finance unimpressed JEMIMA BEUKES



WINDHOEK

The health ministry says an internal probe exonerated one of its senior officials, Fabiola Vahekeni, who stood accused of using her position to help her friends land a medical tender to import unlicensed medicine worth N$7 million in 2018.

The probe came after a container carrying medicine imported by NM Medicals was seized by customs authorities due to an expired import licence.

The company’s application to have the medicine registered in 2018 had also been unsuccessful, as the manufacturer did not have a goods manufacturing practices certificate as required by law.

Following an investigation by the procurement unit in the finance ministry, it was recommended that the health ministry charge Vahekeni, a senior pharmacist and head of procurement at the Central Medical Store (CMS), for misconduct.

NM Medicals is owned by Vahekeni’s friends and former business partners.

Health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe last week said the CMS had exonerated Vahekeni.

“Before we can discipline a person, we must find out against what basis. We asked the director of the CMS to investigate and their outcome was that nothing pointed towards misconduct. There is no reason to discipline her and she remains in that position,” he said.

Baffling

Officials in the finance ministry questioned the outcome.

“The evidence is so clear, so it baffles us how the health ministry can say they found nothing wrong. Something is amiss and it seems as if Nangombe is shielding his officials,” a source who chose to speak anonymously said.

The then acting finance ministry executive director, Phineas Nsundano, told Nangombe in a letter that the Procurement Policy Unit was instructed to investigate the health ministry to establish whether the procurement process for the medicine, Co-Trimoxazole, was in compliance with the Act.

Subsequent laboratory results found that the medicine was unsuitable for distribution. A test for impurities could not be done as the manufacturer had not developed test methods as required by the World Health Organisation.

It was also found that NM Medicals was awarded the contract using a South African-listed manufacturer, although the tender specified only manufacturers or dealers in pharmaceuticals who are legally registered and have a valid manufacturing or trading licence in Namibia, or otherwise legally authorised in the country of exportation.

‘Shortage’

“When it was time to deliver, NM Medicals notified the CMS that they experienced shortages with their South African manufacturer and asked whether they could provide an alternative coming from another manufacturer. The new manufacturer was a Chinese company by the name of ReYOung Pharmaceuticals.

“The CMS allowed this variation without verifying whether the new Chinese manufacturer and the medicines coming from this new manufacturer complied with tender specifications,” the letter read.

Vahekeni was the person responsible for this transaction and authorised amendments to the contracts awarded without review of the procurement committee and without the accounting officer’s approval.

“It has been discovered that Fabiola Vahekeni may have indirect interest in the matter that NM Medicals is owned by very close friends, being Naamob Taimo Amakutuwa and Meameno Kamea Nghikembua, all pharmacists who studied together,” he wrote.

Nsundano further said: “The probability that Fabiola Vahekeni could have used her office to indirectly gain from this or cause anyone else to gain from this is quite high.

“There is no logical explanation as to why Fabiola would allow NM Medicals to engage the Chinese supplier without verifying that they complied with the tender specifications.”

According to Nsundano, this procurement was carried out under ‘emergency procurement’, but no alternative arrangement was made by the CMS when it learnt of the shortages experienced by NM Medicals.

Collusion

He also added that it would appear that Vahekeni and her friends at NM Medicals were colluding.

“The fact that NM Medicals sought to bring in unregistered medicines after having their application to have it registered declined by the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council in July 2018 is quite serious.

“Counterfeit medication is quite a serious issue as it threatens the lives of people,” he said.

jemima@namibiansun.com