Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 2 months ago
Newly appointed Chairman of the North Central Regional Health Authority, Dr. Tim Gopeesingh, is sounding the alarm over massive infrastructural problems and hundreds of millions owed to contractors. He is calling for an immediate audit, describing the situation as a travesty.
Transcript
00:00Chairman Dr. Gopi Singh says the problems at the North Central Regional Health Authority
00:06and the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex are severe,
00:10with multiple urgent deficiencies that demand immediate attention.
00:15He describes the current state as unfortunate and says it's an issue he has long spoken out against,
00:23but now as chairman he is determined to act.
00:26The electrical problems have not been dealt with for 37 years.
00:32The lifts are 37 years old.
00:35The water system is at a level that is, if we don't do something about it,
00:42it will be totally destructive to the population.
00:47Then the waste water system, then the waste incinerator for biohazard medical waste,
00:52lack of accountability by all managers from the top down.
00:57He adds that the board's investigation has uncovered hundreds of millions in debt
01:02incurred by the North Central Regional Health Authority.
01:06He also notes with concern the way contracts were awarded.
01:10I found out that we had security companies being paid about approximately $52 million for the year.
01:21So when I began to investigate it, I realized there were five companies.
01:26When I asked when was the last tender and contract awarded, I think it was 2007.
01:32So I asked the finance director, how could you be paying money to these people without having a contract
01:39and without being tendered?
01:41So immediately I said I must do an audit into the entire thing.
01:46Dr. Gopi Singh also raises serious concerns about hospital admissions
01:51and patients waiting in accident and emergency for sometimes over 48 hours.
01:57It's a very unhealthy population we have, Ms. Romani.
02:01When you look at the admissions into the emergency department on a daily basis, including the pediatrics,
02:08it's over 400 patients that are sometimes attending to the emergency department at Eric Williams.
02:15And out of that, we have to admit more than about 60 or 70 to do wards,
02:23some to operate in theater directly for emergency surgery.
02:27Dr. Gopi Singh warns that some jobs could be on the chopping block
02:31once the investigation, currently underway, produces its findings.
02:37I think people don't have to be held accountable at the end of the time
02:41when the audit is done for the travesty of spending taxpayers' money willy-nilly without any accountability.
02:48And this has been the watchword of the last administration all over the country.
02:55For 10 years, they spent close to $600 billion.
02:58And this is a small manifestation that went on in all different departments of the country.
03:04Efforts to contact the former health minister were unsuccessful.
03:08Nicole M. Romani, TV6 News.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment