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.
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