Profiting from Sickness: The Dark Economy of Public Health in Papua New Guinea
PNGi has released the first instalment of a three-part investigation into the abusive commercial transactions that are leading to the circulation of overpriced and substandard medicines and medical supplies and the waste of millions of Kina in desperately needed funding.
Life expectancy in PNG is twenty years lower than in Australia and the lowest in the region. Eight million people in Papua New Guinea live without access to decent health care and everyone feels the impacts.
If ever there was a sector which should be safeguarded by political leaders to ensure that services are provided in an effective and efficient manner, free from malfeasance, it is public health, but as the the PNGi investigation reveals, that is far from reality.
Profiting from Sickness focuses on controversial medical goods supplier, Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals Limited, its principal, Sir Sang Chung Poh, and a network of business people, former public servants and doctors, connected to him.
Part I of Profiting from Sickness puts the spotlight on Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals Limited itself.
It reveals allegations made against the company from a range of credible authorities, including the Medical Association of PNG, The Global Fund’s Inspector General, a Special Parliamentary Committee, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Solicitor General’s Office, the National Doctor’s Association, front-line medical workers, Professor Glen Mola, Governor Gary Juffa, and Sir Mekere Morauta.
The general pattern common to all these allegations, is that Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals benefits from rigged or flawed tender processes, which come at a significant cost to donors and the public. Furthermore, the goods being provided through these flawed tenders, it is claimed, have been found wanting.
All of which, it is argued, result in Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals making engorged profits at the public’s financial and physical expense.
The results of this alleged abusive behaviour could not be more serious. Rather than the public health system eroding health inequalities, it is exacerbating them and missing the opportunity to make inroads into primary health care that could make a significant impact on the quality and quantity of life enjoyed by ordinary citizens. This comes at an enormous cost to family life and the national economy.
Part II of Profiting from Sickness, to be published next week, will turn the spotlight on some of Sir Sang Chung Poh’s business partners. These include some of the country’s top physicians; some of who have been investigated for abuse of position in the health system, with extremely worrying results.
Part III will look at Poh’s wider business interests, which extend into many sectors of the economy and provide some interesting connections, even reaching as far as the Prime Minister himself.
END
Life expectancy in PNG is twenty years lower than in Australia and the lowest in the region. Eight million people in Papua New Guinea live without access to decent health care and everyone feels the impacts.
If ever there was a sector which should be safeguarded by political leaders to ensure that services are provided in an effective and efficient manner, free from malfeasance, it is public health, but as the the PNGi investigation reveals, that is far from reality.
Profiting from Sickness focuses on controversial medical goods supplier, Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals Limited, its principal, Sir Sang Chung Poh, and a network of business people, former public servants and doctors, connected to him.
Part I of Profiting from Sickness puts the spotlight on Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals Limited itself.
It reveals allegations made against the company from a range of credible authorities, including the Medical Association of PNG, The Global Fund’s Inspector General, a Special Parliamentary Committee, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Solicitor General’s Office, the National Doctor’s Association, front-line medical workers, Professor Glen Mola, Governor Gary Juffa, and Sir Mekere Morauta.
The general pattern common to all these allegations, is that Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals benefits from rigged or flawed tender processes, which come at a significant cost to donors and the public. Furthermore, the goods being provided through these flawed tenders, it is claimed, have been found wanting.
All of which, it is argued, result in Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals making engorged profits at the public’s financial and physical expense.
The results of this alleged abusive behaviour could not be more serious. Rather than the public health system eroding health inequalities, it is exacerbating them and missing the opportunity to make inroads into primary health care that could make a significant impact on the quality and quantity of life enjoyed by ordinary citizens. This comes at an enormous cost to family life and the national economy.
Part II of Profiting from Sickness, to be published next week, will turn the spotlight on some of Sir Sang Chung Poh’s business partners. These include some of the country’s top physicians; some of who have been investigated for abuse of position in the health system, with extremely worrying results.
Part III will look at Poh’s wider business interests, which extend into many sectors of the economy and provide some interesting connections, even reaching as far as the Prime Minister himself.
END
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