Government lied over theft of RATs

The Herald reports:

The Ministry of Health has backtracked on a claim by director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield that tests requisitioned from private businesses were not already in New Zealand when the Ministry took them.

Last month, when news broke that the Ministry was requisitioning tests ordered by private companies for its own stocks, Bloomfield said private and public orders of the tests were being “consolidated” into one order for the Government.

Bloomfield twice assured the public that tests taken by the Ministry were “forward orders” from overseas, not tests already in New Zealand.

“Many businesses already have tests onshore and we’re not requisitioning those or doing anything like that,” Bloomfield said.

So not once but twice the Government said that the tests they were stealing or requisitioning where not ones already in New Zealand. That was a lie.

While no stocks of Abbott tests that are already in the country have been requisitioned, a substantial stock of Roche tests have been, a fact the Ministry now admits.

A spokeswoman from the Ministry acknowledged it “did take the full February allocation from Roche and their stock on hand in New Zealand as part of having our orders fulfilled by Roche”.

Instead of apologising for the false statements from the podium of truth, the truth comes out through a anonymous spokesperson.

When asked about the requisitioning fiasco, Bloomfield and ministers tend to answer with reference to Abbott’s tests, which had not been requisitioned.

This was despite no companies with Abbott tests on order actually alleging their orders had been taken. The two largest firms who complained their tests had been taken, InScience and Health Works Group, both ordered Roche products.

In a press conference last month, instead of answering what had happened to the missing Roche tests, Bloomfield answered questions relating to Abbott tests – tests which no one had reported as being stolen.

This strongly suggests they knew they had confiscated Roche tests that were in NZ, hence why they changed the topic to the Abbott tests. You sort of expect this level of dissembling from Ministers, but to have a departmental chief executive do it should be of greater concern.