A Parliamentary committee has raised questions over the payment of pharmaceutical suppliers by NIPDEC.
On Monday, officials of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee found that NIPDEC was instructed to prioritize multimillion-dollar payments to large pharmaceutical companies, while smaller suppliers waited for months.
NIPDEC Head of Finance and Accounting Jabari Cozier said their efforts to create a more equitable system of payment were shut down under the previous administration.
He told the Committee that the Finance and Accounting unit recommended a system to ensure all companies were paid.
“The pushback would have been sending the Ministry (of Health) our recommendation to allocate it to everybody, to get a proportionate share of what was being paid,” Cozier said.
He said the then administrators of the Ministry of Health made changes to their recommendations.
Some invoices remained outstanding between 180 and 210 days.
The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee is examining the State’s process for acquiring and importing pharmaceuticals.
