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Storm Over CSS Medicine Delivery Contract To Suspect Group In Mexico


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Storm over medicine delivery contract to suspect group

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CSS director knocks elbows with ultimate recipient of contract during delivery of donation

Posted 11/04/2020

A growing outcry  over a $168 million Social Security  (CSS)  contract  awarded  to a Mexican-Panama consortium for the storage and delivery of  medicines has put Director Enrique Lau Cortes in the center of a political and media storm 

"For many years, I have not answered gossip," says the Director.

 Panama America controlled by ex-president Ricardo Martinelli has defended the award of the contract to a consortium made up of two companies: the Panamanian PMG Logistics Corp. with no history  in the field and Mexico Intermed with a spotty performance record  and  corruption allegations on its home turf

The Martinelli publication says  the  four-year contract, "would help improve the availability of medicines in favor of thousands of Panamanians.”

The newspaper said that the benefited consortium “was the only proponent that, … complied with the requirements and requirements of the statement of objections, obtaining a total of 97 points of the chosen weighting methodology ”.

The arguments of the Martinelli newspaper came to light amid an avalanche of criticism emanating from social networks and newsgroups, which strongly questioned the contract, due to the scandals surrounding one of the companies in the consortium. winner: Intercontinental de Medicamentos SA de CV (Intermed).

Irregularities 

In February - the director of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico was dismissed for "incompetence ... since the health and lives of patients were put at risk daily," Mexican media reported.

The decision came when medical personnel denounced the official to the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, because Intermed and another company breached a contract of more than $27 million for the delivery of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, but they were charged to patients, reported the Aristegui Noticias.

This year another complaint against the company was added. The head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Mexican Ministry of Finance, Santiago Nieto Castillo presented information about this and other companies in the health system that has been identified as having irregularities.

Castillo revealed that, in total, Intermed has benefited from contracts totaling more than $ 290 million - between 2012 and 2019 - by different Mexican state agencies. And despite this, its financial reports reflect tax losses of about $18 million.

Other complaints against Intercontinental Medicines include the delivery, along with two other companies, insulins that "do not meet" the necessary standards for medical treatments.

The insulin used by public hospitals in Guanajuato was classified as " pirate " by local parliamentary deputies since doctors from that region concluded that "it did not meet the quality characteristics of quality and the patients were not giving the results that were expected with the application of this medicine ”. But despite warnings, the company acquired another direct contract for more than $3.4 million in Mexico.

Despite the defense of the contract, criticism was mounting as the scandals in Mexico of the winning company were disclosed. Panama America, while defending the contract in favor of the winning consortium, deliberately refrained from disclosing compromising information from Intercontinental de Medicamentos, SA de CV, reports La Prensa

The attack by Panama America focused on Distribuidora Disur, which, was disqualified from the tender for the CSS.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/storm-over-medicine-delivery-contract-to-suspect-group

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  • Moderator_02 changed the title to Storm Over CSS Medicine Delivery Contract To Suspect Group In Mexico
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Cortizo instruyó suspender el polémico contrato de la CSS

Redacción de La Prensa
12 abr 2020 - 12:00 AM
Cortizo pidió suspender la contratación, hasta que se supere la crisis del Covid-19. Lau, que adjudicó el contrato el pasado martes, ahora dice que el acto se planificó sin el coronavirus, y ahora la vida “ha cambiado”.
 
El consorcio está integrado por la panameña PMG Logistics Corp, y la mexicana Intercontinental de Medicamentos, S.A. de C.V. A esta última se le atribuyen en México fallas e incumplimientos en la entrega de fármacos, y de no cumplir con los requisitos de calidad e, incluso, una presunta defraudación de naturaleza fiscal.
 

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/cortizo-intruyo-suspender-el-polemico-contrato-de-la-css/

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Clouded  Social Security deal sidelined

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Enrique Lau Cortes

Posted 12/04/2020

President Laurentino Cortizo reacted quickly to media exposure of the clouded track record of a Panama-Mexico consortium, cobbled together  to snag a $168 million contract from the Social Security Fund for storage and distribution of medicines with a clouded track.

On Saturday, April 11 Cortizo ordered  the Fund’s director Enrique Lau Cortes to suspend the contract  he had awarded on  Tuesday

Lau, behind a face mask,  told media at  a Health Ministry press conference that the deal with a consortium that bid $40 million higher than a rival group was planned beforethe coronavirus, and now life "has changed."

The consortium is made up of the Panamanian PMG Logistics Corp, and the Mexican Intercontinental de Medicamentos, SA de CV. ,  part of alleged tax fraud.

La Prensa’s investigative team which has frequently exposed previous administration failings led the charge while Ricardo Martinelli controlled Panama America skipping details of earlier malpractice came to its defense.

Ex- president Martinelli has a dozen corruption cases related to his time in office waiting in the wings.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/health/clouded-social-security-deal-sidelined

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On 4/12/2020 at 8:19 AM, Moderator_02 said:

Despite the defense of the contract, criticism was mounting as the scandals in Mexico of the winning company were disclosed. Panama America, while defending the contract in favor of the winning consortium, deliberately refrained from disclosing compromising information from Intercontinental de Medicamentos, SA de CV, reports La Prensa

The attack by Panama America focused on Distribuidora Disur, which, was disqualified from the tender for the CSS.

Ricardo Martinelli.

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Drug Distribution: Contract Award Suspended

The President of Panama ordered the Social Security Fund to suspend the award of the contract for the service of storage, distribution and final dispensation of medicines at the national level, for a four-year period.

Monday, April 13, 2020

According to official information published on April 7, the winner of the contract amounting to $168 million was the business consortium formed by the companies Intercontinental de Medicamentos, S.A. de CV and PMG Logistic Corp.

However, days later President Laurentino Cortizo decided to suspend the public ceremony. In his Twitter account, on April 11th the president explained that "... After analyzing the reports received, I instructed the Social Security Fund to suspend the planned hiring until the Covid-19 crisis is overcome, during which time possible actions to meet the demands of Panamanians must be supported."

According to the documentation, for this public tender Disur & Motion Health Care and Consorcio Salud en Control were the companies that presented their offers, which amounted to $129.5 million and $168 million, respectively.

According to the tender documents, the services contracted are aimed at training human resources of the Social Security Fund for the proper planning of procurement and logistics of distribution and dispensing of medicines and medical surgical supplies in all its units, for this purpose it is required that the contract is for a period of at least four years to implement and provide the service.

See details of the award.

 

https://www.centralamericadata.com/en/article/main/Drug_Distribution_Contract_Award_Suspended

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Procuradurías investigan a la CSS por el contrato de $168 millones

Enrique Lau Cortés guarda silencio ante interrogantes sobre el viaje de miembros de la junta directiva de la CSS a México, en noviembre pasado.
 
Ereida Prieto-Barreiro
17 abr 2020 - 11:42 PM
El procurador de la Administración, Rigoberto González, inició la investigación de oficio sobre el viaje a México de tres miembros de la junta directiva de la CSS, entre ellos, el presidente de la directiva, Miguel Edwards, en noviembre pasado.
 
Edwards, junto a otros dos directivos de la CSS -Esmeralda Buchanan y José Alba- viajaron a México para conocer el sistema de almacenamiento y distribución de medicamentos en ese país.

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/procuradurias-investigan-a-la-css-por-el-contrato-de-168-millones/

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9 hours ago, Moderator_02 said:

Guerrel revealed that CSS has spent more than $ 170 million on similar systems for 11 years, but "they have not solved the problem."

The CSS $160 million dollar contract.  

I am confused with what exactly is the service offered for this huge amount of money ( apart from the corruption...I get that part)...What IS "the problem that's never been solved. ?

Storage and delivery of medicines?   Seems like a lot of money for storage and distribution.

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Piden informes a la CSS sobre cómo se pagó el viaje a México

Juan Manuel Díaz
19 abr 2020 - 12:00 AM

https://www.prensa.com/impresa/panorama/piden-informes-a-la-css-sobre-como-se-pago-el-viaje-a-mexico/

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Joy-riding  CSS board members under investigation

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Under the microscope

Posted 19/04/2020

The Attorney General's Office and the Administration will demand details of an all-expenses-paid trip by three members of the board of directors of the Social Security Fund (CSS) to Mexico, just just before the award of a $168 million contract to a company with a dubious background.

They will also request all the documentation related to the tender.

The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office will ask the Social Security(CSS) for details of how the expenses of the trip of Miguel Edwards, Esmeralda Buchanan and José Alba were met. It seeks to establish, among other things, the conditions of the $168 million contract for the installation of a  drug storage and distribution system.

The  Public Ministry will also request information about the complaints that warn of tax fraud in Mexico previously exposed by La Prensa s and similar operations that allegedly involve companies that participated in the tender.

On April 7, the CSS awarded the Consortium Salud en Control, made up of the Panamanian PMG Logisc Corp and the Mexican Intercontinental de Medicamentos, SA de CV, the tender for $ 168 million. The Panamanian company had no track record in the field and it issued photos showing the local director donating items to fight the coronavirus, prior to the awarding of the contract.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/joy-riding-css-board-members-called-to-explain

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Moderator comment: There are two apparently unrelated matters (CSS and ASEP) lumped together in this news article. The ASEP issue likely will not expand into a major national issue, and so it is just a tag-along here in this topic; if ASEP becomes a bigger issue then it will be separated at that point in time.

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Diputados citan al director de la CSS, Enrique Lau Cortés y al director de la ASEP, Armando Fuentes

La propuesta de citar a Enrique Lau Cortés fue impulsada por el diputado panameñista Luis Ernesto Carles.
 
Aminta Bustamante
20 abr 2020 - 07:42 PM
Lau Cortés deberá responder al menos ocho preguntas, en su mayoría, respecto al polémico contrato por $168 millones a favor del Consorcio Salud en Control, que fue suspendido a petición del presidente de la República, Laurentino Cortizo.
 
Por ejemplo, deberá explicar en calidad de qué viajó con miembros de la junta directiva de la CSS a México, si ha iniciado alguna investigación que permita los orígenes de la relación con la empresa y se permita la incorporación de nuevos elementos que avalen tomar medidas necesarias y aplicables en este caso a los miembros de la junta directiva,

https://www.prensa.com/politica/diputados-citan-al-director-de-la-css-enrique-lau-cortes-y-al-director-de-la-asep-armando-fuentes/

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