PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA - The Government spent more than RM2mil ($836,600) buying radioactive isotopes from Singapore when Putrajaya Hospital had the means to produce it, the 2007 Auditor-Generals Report said.

The component, Flurodeoxiglucose (FDG), is a short-lived radioactive isotope that is injected into patients to allow the imaging machine to detect problems such as cancer, brain damage, heart disease or infections.

The Penang Hospital, which received the imaging machine in February 2005, needed FDG but the machine to produce it was only due to arrive at the Putrajaya Hospital the following year.

As a result, the Government sourced the FDG through a company, Glotel Sdn Bhd, that procured FDG from Singapore.

However, despite Putrajaya Hospital receiving the machine that could produce FDG in February 2006, it was barred from supplying Penang Hospital as it had failed to obtain Good Manufacturing Practices status.

The report said the hospital had failed to get GMP status as the training syllabus for the staff was not discussed with the Government and subsequently not approved by the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau.

Later, a local company was appointed for RM24,000 to try and obtain GMP status. However, supporting documents to apply for the status from the bureau failed because the officer involved was busy with daily duties.

The audit said temporary approval was given to Putrajaya Hospital in November 2006 to produce FDG for its own consumption and the report pointed out that the Health Ministry director-general had the power to approve the supply of the substance from Putrajaya to Penang.

The application to the director-general to allow sourcing of FDG from Putrajaya was only made in September last year and approved in October.

However, purchasing from Singapore went on till December.

The cost from November 2006 to December 2007 resulted in 114 deliveries of FDG at a cost of RM2.25mil.

Investigations must be done on the careless officer who allowed the procurement from the Singapore hospital to continue, the report said.

In its response, the ministry said that although Putrajaya Hospital produced FDG, it had not obtained GMP status.

GMP certification for the FDG facility was issued on April 24 this year.