by Latex Surgical Products/Zalatex
23 August 2007
The Department of Health has condemned the actions of the official of the
South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), who has put millions of people at
risk by illegally passing millions of condoms, which had not met the quality
assurance requirements.
This follows an article by Sowetan (published on 22 August 2007) which
stated that a company, Latex Surgical Products (LSP), which was awarded a
contract by the Department of Health through Zalatex to produce Choice condoms
for the public, had allegedly bribed the official to pass the defective
condoms. The implicated authority has been suspended from work and SABS has
opened a criminal case against the official and the company involved. The SABS,
which is responsible for quality assurance testing prior to any distribution,
has assured the Department of Health that it has withdrawn the LSP/Zalatex
certification (last Friday) to manufacture condoms.
LSP/Zalatex is one of the seven companies, which had been awarded the tender
to produce male condoms. Zalatex received a 9% (which is 76 million condoms)
stake of the total amount of 850 million condoms. The contract started in
October 2005 to 20 September 2007. The estimated Zalatex's value of the
contract is about R49 per 200 condoms. SABS has also reported to the Department
of Health that two condom consignments for March and July 2007 from Zalatex
were subjected to an investigative audit and they did not pass the quality
test. The six other companies passed the investigative random stock check.
The Department of Health is recalling all two condom consignments for March
and July 2007 (about 4,6 million condoms are affected according to the
Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) 2007, from warehouses and health
facilities throughout the country. We will also approach National Treasury,
which is responsible for management of the contract of the implicated
SLP/Zalatex, to discuss the way forward and will do everything in our power to
protect our people.
Contact:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
Charity Bhengu
Cell: 083 679 7424
Issued by: Department of Health
23 August 2007
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
