Procurement manager caught by the mouth; his email circulated about Chief Pharmacist

The decision to allow three other persons, including Danini Contreras, to approve Customs entries of pharmaceuticals was made on the strength of one email. That email was circulated on April eleventh by Procurement Manager, Arik Lima. It has been reported that in his email, Lima stated that Chief Pharmacist Sharon Anderson was on strike and refusing to sign Customs entries. That seemed excessively strange, since it has since been confirmed that Anderson was actually on sick leave, and even so was still signing Customs entries from home. Well Lima cleared up that matter this morning. We asked him why he’d circulated information that the Chief Pharmacist was on strike. He reported that his email did not state that.

Arik Lima, Procurement Manager, Central Medical Stores

“As being the head at Central Medical Stores, my main focus is to always have availability of our medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. When I heard about the absence of entries not being signed, that raised a red flag and I immediately seeked for advice on what can be done because I got called from a few suppliers that they had entries pending, and as you know those medications are always needed.”

Reporter

Arik Lima

“Sir you’re not answering the question. That’s quite a leap from wanting to get entries signed to saying that the Chief Pharmacist is on strike and refusing to sign entries.”

Arik Lima

“No I answered your question perfectly because I understood that the entries would not be signed for a period and so I could not afford to have medical supplies on hold.”

Reporter

“Sir you’re not answering the question. Why would you say that the Chief Pharmacist is on strike and refusing to sign entries? Who gave you that information?”

Arik Lima

“Nobody said anything. Nobody said.”

Reporter

“That is in your email though.”

Arik Lima

“No.”

But here’s a copy of the email sent by Lima, the one he claims doesn’t say anything about the Chief Pharmacist being on strike. It was sent out on April eleventh, 2014 at eight fifteen am. He entitled it Matter of Great Concern. In that email Lima states, and we “It is to my understanding that Mrs. Sharon Anderson is on strike and refusing to sign supplies – this could seriously endanger the health of our patients.”