00:00Do we have teething problems? Yes. But one of the problems we don't have is
00:07ambulances not working. That's not the problem we have. We have teething
00:15problems, we have training issues that we are going to resolve, we have
00:20specifications that we have added to the service provider, things that we didn't
00:25ask for, but that we have decided that we needed. And so we are, I don't
00:32want to say we are retrofitting, but we are adding, we are beefing up the
00:36ambulance. The media conference follows allegations that one of the three
00:40ambulances bought by the TRHA had been losing power. We were told that the
00:46procurement process for the vehicles took place in 2022 based on
00:51specifications by an in-house team of specialists. Tobago has a current fleet
00:57of six ambulances of which two are leased and four are refurbished. These are the
01:04companies. Why did we go with none of these companies? Because the people who
01:12actually use these ambulances on a day-to-day basis formed part of the team
01:18that assessed the suitability of their products, of their offer, and deemed them
01:26to be unsuitable. Many of them were actually offering what we have been accused of
01:33doing now. Many of them were offering us a maxi and saying we can give you a
01:38shell retrofitted. The persons who are using these ambulances, who created the
01:45specifications on which the tender was based, those people, including Mr. Lester
01:52Frederick, rejected, quite rightly so in my view, rejected that lure. The attorney at law
02:03and the former justice minister is now issuing pre-action protocol letters to
02:07persons whom, she says, have defamed her on social media. Chief Executive Officer of the
02:14TRHA, Dr. Delmon Baker said to date, the supplier has received just over 10 million
02:20dollars and that the ambulances are under a generous warranty.
02:25We had an incident recently. As the CEO said, we continue to test drive these
02:29ambulances. They are under warranty and we have an extended warranty. We have a
02:35generous warranty and quite frankly our contract is a good contract. If the
02:43ambulances are not serving our purpose, then we will get our money back. There is no
02:51iteration where we will preside over purchasing items that cannot be used with
02:59no recourse. But we are having teething problems and the supplier is working with us to resolve
03:07those issues and we are confident that they will be resolved. And if they cannot be resolved, we are
03:11confident that our legal recourse is sound. Ms. Moore is tonight seeking to assure the public
03:17that all regulatory protocols in the procurement of Tobago's ambulances have been observed. We want to
03:24assure the public that we have an eye on value for your money as well as appropriate contingencies in
03:34place if something were to go wrong to recoup your money. But ultimately it is about the delivery of the
03:43service. That is what we are charged to do. And the TRHA is committed to delivering service, to reducing
03:51wait times, to making sure that there are emergency response vehicles in this space. Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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