The supervisory body observed that 650 fans cost 920.4 million pesos and were not delivered to Insabi. Likewise, the delivery of 1,050,000 KN95 masks, which cost 40.5 million pesos, was not accredited, and payments for 1,600.3 million pesos for the purchase of 2,250 ventilators are pending.
The Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) detected that medical supplies to attend to the health contingency caused by the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus, such as ventilators, masks and vaccines, were purchased at a premium or were not delivered to public health institutions in Mexico.
In the case of the resources of the Health Fund for Welfare exercised by the Health Institute for Welfare (Insabi), the ASF observed that 650 fans that had a cost of 920.4 million pesos were not delivered, which should have been supplied before the April 30, 2020.
Given this, Insabi hired an office to initiate legal action to enforce the supplier’s contractual responsibility.
Insabi “did not prove the delivery” of 1,050,000 KN95 masks, at a cost of 40.5 million pesos, and clarification is pending regarding the payments made for 1,600.3 million pesos for the purchase of 2,250 ventilators, because the The institution did not provide the supporting and supporting documentation of its acquisition, receipt and distribution to the medical units.
In the case of the Institute of Security and Social Services of State Workers (ISSSTE), the ASF made observations for 86.6 million pesos for the purchase of pediatric-neonatal adult ventilators, due to the fact that improper payments were made for foreign trade.
The “20 de Noviembre” National Medical Center returned 15 ventilators to the central warehouse because they registered failures, without the institution having requested the supplier to replace the devices. Meanwhile, the ISSSTE delegation in the State of Mexico failed to apply conventional penalties for the delay in the delivery of 47 pieces of equipment. In addition, the ISSSTE paid 10 fans that had already been paid previously, details the third installment of Individual Reports of the Superior Audit of the Public Account 2020, released on February 20, 2022.
The ASF observed that of 10 contracts for 1,309.8 million pesos signed at the Mexican Institute of Social Security -which included, among other equipment, 450 ventilators, 645 vital signs monitors, 200 red cars for resuscitation and 108 digital ultrasounds-, it was identified that the service provider did not provide maintenance to 194 pieces of equipment.
“The IMSS did not provide documentary evidence that proves the application of penalties, recovery of guarantees due to loss and services not performed to the reviewed teams, which add up to an amount of 11.9 million pesos.”
In addition, it was observed that in some contracts for the maintenance of medical equipment, the clauses of the legal instrument were not foreseen, and the application of penalties for not complying with the maintenance programs, which generated that conventional penalties were not applied despite the delay. in the provision of services or delivery of goods.
The ASF reviewed 11 contracts for an amount of 2,133.2 million pesos to acquire hospital material to attend to the health emergency, such as face masks (respirators for KN95 particles), surgical gowns, disposable overalls, protective masks and gloves for exploration.
“The IMSS did not prove the receipt of goods for 4.8 million pesos corresponding to an order, and the lack of application of penalties for 11.7 million pesos derived from the delay in the delivery of face masks from another contract. Likewise, the difference of 8.0 million pesos determined between the amount reported as exercised for 22.1 million pesos and the amount paid to a supplier for 14.1 million pesos was not credited.
On the other hand, the ASF audited the resources disbursed by the IMSS for comprehensive services for the installation of temporary medical units, as well as subrogated services, which included payment to hospitals and private clinics made under a Framework Agreement during the critical phase. of the health emergency by COVID-19.
The latter comprised a controlled sample of 912.4 million pesos, which is equivalent to 35.5% of the 2 thousand 570.0 million pesos that the IMSS reported for said concepts. “It was found that of 4 comprehensive service contracts for 656.1 million pesos, in one contract for 119.5 million pesos, there was non-compliance with the service delivery deadlines, for which the IMSS determined a conventional penalty of 10.3 million pesos, with an amount pending application of 5.5 million pesos”.
Irregularities were also found in the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) and the Secretariat of the Mexican Navy (Semar). In the first, the ASF identified that in the acquisition of 8 pieces of equipment for 15.1 million pesos, the awarded company, after having installed 5 of the 8 contracted units, notified Sedena that said units had different specifications and lower prices compared to established in the main contract.
Additionally, Sedena authorized the execution of 8 contracts to equip a hospital, without considering the time that would be used for its remodeling, “which caused the goods to remain idle between 6 and 10 months.”
In the case of Semar, the highest supervisory body in the country detected that in three adjudication procedures, the goods that the winning companies sold to the agency were acquired with companies that also participated in said procedures, but that quoted prices higher than those of awarded companies.
“In all cases, adequate market research was not carried out, which meant that Semar was unable to obtain prices lower than those paid,” and it was found that the awarded companies and the natural and legal persons with whom the former acquired the goods were part of the Semar Supplier Register. On the other hand, “the contracting of companies that did not have the corporate purpose, nor the necessary technical and economic capacity was observed.”
DEFICIENCIES IN CONTROL AND SUPERVISION OF ANTI-COVID-19 VACCINES
Regarding the resources exercised by the National Center for the Health of Children and Adolescents (CENSIA) corresponding to advance payments for the acquisition of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the ASF determined that there were “deficiencies in the control and supervision of the acquisition, reception, storage and distribution of vaccines”.
Among these, it stands out that there was not all the information regarding the reception in national territory of the doses of the AstraZeneca brand vaccine.
Likewise, the ASF observed differences in the registration of the number of doses of entries and exits in the warehouse of the National Cancer Institute, responsible for safeguarding the doses of the Pfizer brand vaccine.
Regarding the AstraZeneca brand vaccines, differences were determined in the number of doses and the number of batches, as a result of the comparison of the information provided by CENSIA against that of other participating entities. “The entity did not provide the expected follow-up to the transport and destination actions of the AstraZeneca brand vaccines.”
The ASF highlighted that the Ministry of Health did not have complete information on the total number of vaccines received, and the information concentrated in its systems called “Environment of Administration and Management of Health Care” and “CVCovid” “is incomplete and not updated ”.
Additionally, deficiencies in the implementation of controls and security mechanisms of the information registered in said systems were determined.
The ASF detected that in 2020 Laboratorios de Biológico y Reactivos de México, SA de CV (Birmex) -a company with majority state participation- “did not prove that it carried out the supervision of the production processes to guarantee that they complied with the standards and provisions established in good manufacturing practices for product release.
Regarding the conditioning of 17 million 524 thousand 300 doses of vaxigrip flu vaccines, these corresponded to 26 batches that had the regulatory authorization opinion issued by Cofepris.
According to the results of the indicator “Percentage of demand for biologicals from the Public Sector covered by BIRMEX”, with the 60 million 688 thousand 900 doses distributed, in 2020 the state-owned company covered 43.4% of the demand for biologicals requested by the public sector (140,000,000 million of doses), which represented 78.3% of the goal of covering 55.4% (77,548,889 doses) of said demand.
In 2020, the parastatal authorized 161 regulatory compliance opinions. Of which 107 were for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine; 26 for the trivalent influenza vaccine type A and B Vaxigrip; 14 for the measles and rubella vaccine.
As well as 7 for the lyophilized anti-scorpion polyvalent fabotherapic; 4 for the absorbed anti-diphtheria, anti-tetanus and whooping cough vaccine and 3 for the lyophilized polyvalent antiviperine fabotherapic.
Regarding the storage of Birmex’s biological products and reagents, the ASF points out that the parastatal “did not prove that it had implemented mechanisms to ensure that the products stored in 2020 met the specifications and quality established for their distribution.”
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