Too many questions hanging on Covid 19 procurement

PETALING JAYA: Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin says he takes full responsibility for the cost of wasted Covid-19 vaccines, following the release of the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report on the matter.

Read on in FMT here.

Despite doing so, questions still abound because the procurement for Covid 19 was widely suspected to be abused by the Muhyiddin administration to build-up the political war chest of PPBM and the UMNO faction aligned to him.   

In Khairy's defense, a public health practitioner, M Muralittharan asked readers of his FMT column here to recall the mad rush for vaccine when the Covid 19 virus was spreading rapidly and government success. Extract below:

Memories are short in Malaysia, and many have quickly forgotten how desperate the rush was to get vaccinated in 2021. People did everything they could to get the first two doses of vaccine, irrespective of what type of vaccine it was; some travelling and queuing for hours to get injected. Many would remember the thousands who queued outside the mega PPVs such as at the World Trade Centre to get the specific type of vaccine they had chosen.

The success of the government to secure these vaccines despite a global race to do so and a shortage in the global vaccine supply has often been understated and underplayed at times. But they managed to do so, and the ‘rakyat’ did enjoy the tremendous benefits of the lightning speed vaccination programme, overseen by Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s team at the ministry of health and the indefatigable Anas Alam Faizli’s team at Protect Health working with the private sector and civil society.

The issue being raised is not the effort and outcome but governance and the suspicion the Muhyiddin government was in the Malay idiom would say, "drinking while submerging under water". Thick as Brick raised the concern as per the excerpt below:

Fingers are pointing at Khairy to explain how Phamaniaga could have committed to such huge and undocumented purchases. There must have been an instruction or oral commitment from a high government official. 

He was specifically appointed by Muhyiddin to attend to the vaccine purchases at MOSTI and later at MOH. Was he entrusted for his past "track records" in procurements and ability to protect Muhyiddin's interest? 

Read on here to fathom the recklessness of the procurement. 

Khairy tried to dispel the over-purchse as common occurance in other countries too. The excess inventory was to ensure all Malaysians are vaccinated, but the response to booster was poor.  However, it was not the truth as the excerpt claimed: 

Then Director General, Ministry of Health, Tan Sri Nor Hisham made a negative statement on Sinovac and government hospital stopped dispensing Sinovac as booster. ....

By the design of the MOH, it contributed to the millions of expired vaccine. Khairy is not telling the truth and there is more not told. What was the real non-medical reason for the MOH policy change to impose Pfizer for the second booster change in decision?

Read on here.

A revelation by a whitleblower portal, The Corporate Secret here that:

Names such as the then KSU Dato Seri Dr Chen Chew Min, and Procurement SUB, Dato Wan Hashim Wan Rahim were the the talk within the close circle of Chinese businessmen for dictating the short-listing of suppliers and procurement. ...

The portal also exposed the role of former Prime Ministers, Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri in the procurement. No wonder TCS implicated Ismail for Pharmaniaga 50% drop in shares earlier in their March 1st posting here. 

With the prospect of the previous PN government Ministers implicated, Mas Ermieyati did a Humphrey Appleby to deviate the PAC proceeding towards effort by MOH to address the shortcomings. Right out of a "Yes Prime Minister" British sitcom playbook.  

Read on here.