Call for cancelation of overpriced HIV test kits

THE NATIONAL Authority for Transparency and Access to Information has asked Health Minister Javier Diaz, to rescind a $ 2.5 million contract for rapid test kits for HIV that cost more than double the going rate.

The order was awarded by the secretary general of the organization, Adelys Varela, acting deputy minister responsible for the purchase of 126,500 rapid test kits for HIV and hepatitis B and C.

The request from, Abigail Benzadón, head of the Transparency body is not due to the potential cost overrun of more than a million dollars, pointed out by the Aurelio Nunez head of the MoH National STD / HIV / AIDS agency but because Varela awarded the contract without authority at the time.
Benzadón recalled in a letter to Minister Diaz to, Varela had received from him "special permission" to leave the Ministry on the day the order was to be processed, so under the law it was invalid.
On the possible overpricing Benzadón said on Telemetro, Monday, July 34, that "it is difficult to prove." But Nunez found that they would be paying $ 18.50, per kit, when each package is sold at less than $8.