Rwf340m lost in excess drugs

A plan to bail out King Faisal Hospital from a crisis of drugs and medical consumables resulted into government incurring a loss of Rwf340 million, Parliament has been told.

Thursday, October 09, 2014

A plan to bail out King Faisal Hospital from a crisis of drugs and medical consumables resulted into government incurring a loss of Rwf340 million, Parliament has been told.

The loss, according to hospital officials, was incurred as a result of purchase of surplus drugs and medical consumables by the government as part of efforts to prevent a serious crisis at King Faisal Hospital Kigali in 2009.

"We had a surplus stock of drugs in 2010; we reached out to the National Drug Stores (camerwa) to sell the drugs and consumables for us. They sold some of them and returned the rest,” King Faisal Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Dr Emile Rwamasirabo, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday.

Rwamasirabo revealed the details while responding to questions from PAC as the committee scrutinised the 2012/13 Auditor General’s report.

"What led to this loss is particularly valuation. Camerwa sold the drugs at a much lower price leading to a loss of about Rwf 340 million,” Rwamasirabo said.

The AG report also recorded a loss of Rwf1.5 billion at the hospital which was lost in different dealings. Over the years, the accumulated loss stood at Rwf4.5bn.