Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen Pharma’s group senior executive, this week criticised poor procurement decisions by government departments, saying products including antiretrovirals (ARVs) could be produced locally to benefit the economy.
Speaking at the annual Black Business Council summit in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, this week, Nicalaou urged government departments to consider procurement decisions based on the impact on the economy instead of solely on price considerations.
Nicolaou, said South Africa has the world’s highest HIV rate but imports most of its ARVs, which is counterintuitive.
“It is insane. Every month we consume 5.5-million packs of ARVs in the public sector. Our capacity is 3-million packs a month, and we have capacity to install 2-million capacity. We import most of the products, on simple yet illogical pricing decisions.
“Instead of looking at what constitutes the best value for money, we will say we are saving R1 a pack because we are importing from India, but we forget we are losing R3 a pack in terms of the multiplier impact back into the economy. It does not make sense. That is a terrible decision and unfortunately there are departments in our country, not only in my sector but across the board, that are making these illogical procurement decisions”.
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