Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 6 months ago
An investigation has been launched into the procurement of a number of ambulances for the people of Tobago through the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) and the Division of Health.

This comes as ambulances have stalled with patients enroute to the Roxborough Hospital and the procurement process has been called into question.

Minority Leader Kelvon Morris has labelled the present situation ' AmbulanceGate', a brazen scandal and the greatest procurement betrayal to the people of Tobago.

Mr. Morris is calling on the Health Secretary Dr Faith Brebnor to resign. Elizabeth Williams has this report.
Transcript
00:00I am calling for the immediate resignation of the Secretary of Health on this matter
00:08with $12 million in cost overruns, procuring ambulances after two years.
00:18After two years, we are in 2025, ambulance contract awarded in 2023,
00:25and up to now, we cannot see in rotation one of those ambulances,
00:32and the one that they attempted to put into rotation could not even power up a hill.
00:39Minority leader Kelvin Morris spoke on Tuesday during a media briefing in Scarborough.
00:45He said in 2023, the Tobago Regional Health Authority, TRHA,
00:49awarded a contract for the supply and delivery of ambulances to Biomedical Technologies Limited
00:56for over $5 million.
00:59He added that the procurement was for a specific type of ambulance,
01:04reportedly fit for Tobago's terrain.
01:07And he pointed out that despite the award being made in July 2023,
01:13the first batch of ambulances was not delivered until October 2024, 15 months later.
01:20Morris told the media the final cost increased to over $16 million,
01:26with delivery and associated costs taking the total to more than $17 million.
01:33A letter has since been sent by the minority leader to the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau.
01:39So on this matter, based on some evidence I have of impropriety and malfeasance,
01:49I have penned a letter to the Anti-Corruption Investigative Bureau, ACIB,
01:59and I've also cc'd our Acting Commissioner of Police, Mr. Junior Benjamin,
02:06requesting a criminal investigation into the TRHA Ambulance Procurement Scandal dubbed Ambulance Gate.
02:20According to Health Secretary Dr. Faith Brebner,
02:23at the 37th sitting of the Assembly on January 23, 2025,
02:28the supplier was paid a total of over $8 million to date,
02:34and this represented approximately 50% of the total cost of over $16 million
02:40for the 12 units that were ordered.
02:43Yet we have paid already, and perhaps we have even paid more since that time,
02:48$8 million of the $16.65 million.
02:57And the question we all have to ask ourselves is why.
03:01When the ambulances arrived, they had to be returned to be retrofitted,
03:06costing taxpayers even more monies.
03:09But then, because the ambulances that came into the country were not fit for purpose,
03:17it meant that the supplier had to go and do further adjustments.
03:23And in doing the further adjustments, that cost you, the taxpayer, further expenditure.
03:30So, whereas the ambulance was originally $1.295 million,
03:36they had to make further adjustments that cost you an additional $244,000.
03:45TV6 News contacted the communications unit of the TRHA for comment on the matter,
03:50and were told, quote,
03:52The matter is currently under investigation, and as such, the secretary has no comment at this time.
03:58Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment