News Forum - Thai Red Cross rejects accusation that it profited by reselling Moderna doses

[Thaiger]

The Thai Red Cross Society has rejected a claim on social media that it profited from the resale of Moderna vaccine doses. According to a Bangkok Post report, the organisation was responding to a claim on Facebook that it had purchased Moderna doses through the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation and was attempting to resell them to various organisations at an inflated price. Kritsada Boonrach from the TRCS has spoken out to address the claim, saying the organisation had merely invited relevant agencies, including provincial administrations, to join its efforts to vaccinate people free of charge. “This information may have caused misunderstanding […]

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[Rebel]

Its probably not the problem what is writing on the invoice   more about what was paid beside the invoice. This is how it works here

[DoUKnowWhoIAm]

28 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

misunderstanding

Always a misunderstanding

[AlexPTY]

Since they all say that purchases are going through GPO, i don't really understand why RC need to offer other organizations to buy vaccine from GPO. Shouldn't GPO do that? No? ... Sorry

[Stonker]

24 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

The TRCS used its own budget to purchase 100,000 doses from the GPO at a cost of 1,100 baht per dose

As I commented at the time, the whole way this was done seems questionable at best, and little more than an exercise in making the Thai Red Cross (and possibly the PAOs) look benevolent at the expense of further complicating an already complex system, as well as blurring the payment process and delaying the procurement.

The Thai Red Cross is funded by the government, so the "own budget" it was using was government funds.

24 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

...from the TRCS saying the organisation had merely invited relevant agencies, including provincial administrations, to join its efforts to vaccinate people free of charge

25 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

 It also contacted 76 provincial administrations, 38 of which agreed to purchase another 750,000 doses from the GPO, with the TRCS acting as intermediary

Selling them on to other government agencies to distribute is just adding yet another "intermediary" to the process when there's no possible need for it.

They're all government funded, but instead of the government simply buying the vaccines through the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) then controlling their distribution through Provincial Administrations (PAOs), it's funding the Thai Red Cross (TRC) to buy them from the GPO, then funding the  PAOs to in turn buy them from the TRC.

Not just unnecessarily complicating an already complex system for no possible reason other than to make the organisations (TRC and PAOs) look good, but adding yet more levels to delay the process and for possible corruption - all at the expense of the recipients who are funding it all through the government. 

[Stonker]

50 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Its probably not the problem what is writing on the invoice   more about what was paid beside the invoice. This is how it works here

Sorry, but while your sentiment may well be correct, that's not "how it works here" or anywhere else as the problem is what's invoiced.

That's where any scams and corruption occur, by over-billing.

In this case instead of just having one invoice, from Moderna to the GPO, there's another from the GPO to the TRC then yet another from the TRC to the PAOs.

It may have been for political reasons, to make the TRC and the PAOs look good, or it may have been to facilitate corruption - anybody's guess.

Either way, though, whatever the reason, it can't be justified and only results in complication and delay and the possibility, at least, of corruption.