Director of the Temporary Commission for the Management of SAMES Odete Maria Freitas Belo said currently they were making the effort to fix conditions within the institution, so it could continue working as public enterprise. 
Last year the Temporary Commission started an investigation into irregularities within SAMES, the institution responsible for buying and distributing medicine for hospitals and health centres in Timor-Leste.
She said in a report the temporary team at SAMES gave to the Council of Ministers in July that was approved by the Prime Minister, it recommended SAMES should continue as a public enterprise but said there was a need to fix conditions.
“We recommended it stay as a public enterprise at the time the presentation was approved, so we will not do more reports but will prepare the conditions to work as a public enterprise,” said the SAMES Director in her office in Kampung Alor, Dili.
She added the areas that needed fixing included financial management, procurement and warehousing.
She said they would also revise some laws relating to the procurement law and statute, because currently the structure does not support SAMES working as public enterprise.
“The important thing is the special procurement regime and statute are correct, then we also can revise internal SAMES regulations and look for the time to inform the Prime Minister.”
Director Belo said she visited Singapore and India, with support from the company SDV Dili, to closely look at medicine warehouse systems and medicine management because the company SDV Dili was interested in supporting SAMES.
Apart from this, the SAMES delegation team also visited a medicine factory in India look closely at the process of making medicines.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Ilda Maria da Conceicao said some things were running well at SAMES when it was restructured and some things needed to be fixed.
She also urged the SAMES leadership to create a good plan to ensure there’s medicine to treat the community at all health facilities.
“You can be clever but if you don’t have the desire as well, your cleverness will do nothing,” MP Ilda said.
