Kuwait audit report slams poor pandemic planning

Governments worldwide are reviewing their response to the pandemic in order to learn from past mistakes. (File/Shutterstock)

• The government's uncoordinated response to the crisis hampered its ability to deliver an effective response

RIYADH: The absence of a central body to manage the coronavirus pandemic contributed to overspending by the Kuwaiti government, an audit report has found.
The State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SAB) said that the government's uncoordinated response to the crisis hampered its ability to deliver an effective response.
“There are a number of observations, the most prominent of which is the absence of any central body to purchase supplies, despite their similarities (masks, gloves, sterilization materials),  SAB said in the report that was submitted to the National Assembly.
"This led to a variation in their purchase prices," said the report.
It also highlighted poor communication between government ministries.
The unilateral approach adopted by some government agencies meant that there was no specific mechanism to monitor the numbers of quarantined medical workers and staff, it said.
Some orders were exaggerated unnecessarily while at the same time supplies were purchased from companies that did not specialize in personal protective equipment, the report found.
Governments worldwide are reviewing their response to the pandemic in order to learn from past mistakes and ensure a quicker response to future public health crises.