PETALING JAYA: Pharmaniaga Bhd “vehemently dismisses” claims that the government is over-relying on the group as its pharmaceutical logistics and distribution services provider.
In a statement yesterday, the Practice Note 17 (PN17) company emphasised that contrary to claims, the Health Ministry (MOH) had spent approximately 35% of its pharmaceutical spending via Pharmaniaga.
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The pharmaceutical company said its role had been limited to managing the logistics and distribution of the products, as well as holding the drug stockpile in the tune of RM400mil as at Dec 31, 2022.
“The selection of suppliers, products and prices is all determined by the MOH after it concludes an open tender exercise.
“Currently, the group serves almost 2,000 government health facilities throughout the country, including door-to-door deliveries to the remote areas of Sabah and Sarawak.”
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Pharmaniaga said the services are governed by stringent service standards and key performance indicators (KPIs) with the imposition of penalties for any non-conformances.
“Nevertheless, Pharmaniaga has consistently achieved more than 98% score of the KPIs, which is made possible through a long-term commitment to the investment of extensive logistics infrastructure and network nationwide.“That includes facilities provided by 14 pharma-grade warehouses and distribution centres located strategically in the Klang Valley, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak, as well as managing a fleet of more than 300 vehicles.”
Pharmaniaga also performs more than 450,000 deliveries via land, air, sea and rivers annually, adding that all these deliveries have been successfully completed within the KPI set by MOH, supported by close to 500 logistics and distribution employees who are all locals.
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“Pharmaniaga
remains committed to its obligations towards both businesses with MOH and the private sector despite experiencing challenges after announcing its PN17 status recently due to the provision of Covid-19 vaccine stocks.”
Pharmaniaga triggered the PN17 criteria last month after reporting a net loss of RM664.39mil in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022 (4Q22) – its largest ever quarterly loss, owing to a massive provision of RM552.3mil for its slow-moving Covid-19 vaccine stock.
