Dept to look into foreigners registering firms as locals

By JESHER TILTO
HEALTH and HIV/AIDS Minister Dr Lino Tom says the department will look into claims of foreigners registering medical companies as local contractors.
Tom said the Health Department would check out an allegation that foreigners under the guise of local contractors had been awarded contracts for medical equipment and medicine.
“They will be held accountable,” he said.
Tom was responding to Nipa-Kutubu MP Dr Billy Joseph, who claimed that there was a foreigner who registered a medical company as a local contractor that was given a contract in Dec 2020 for the Nipa district hospital to procure and set up medical equipment but had not done so.
“Under the National Procurement (NPC) Act 2018, any contract below K10 million must go to a local contractor or PNG-owned company,” Joseph said.
“This individual who was given a contract of K4 million, registered his company as a local company and has bypassed our NPC laws.”
Tom said part of his 100-day plan was to start looking closely at the capacities of medical companies and their ability to provide proper medical equipment and medicines.
“The company that was mentioned, along with the individual involved, will be investigated,” he said.
Tom added that the Government was planning for the Health Department have its own procurement commission to avoid such problems.