Committee set up to review operations at UHWI amid damning audit report

 

Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton says there must be more clarity in the procurement process at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), which is now under investigation by the police following a report submitted by the Auditor General.

 

The Auditor General found that the UHWI repeatedly breached procurement laws and government guidelines, including failing to prepare proper annual procurement plans, missing key documentation for 51 contracts, valued at $521 million, and not complying with mandatory use of the Government of Jamaica's electronic procurement portal. 

 

The Fraud Squad and Jamaica Customs Agency have been called in to probe specific matters arising from the Auditor General's report on procurement activities at the hospital. 

 

In a release Tuesday, the Board of Management of the UHWI did not provide details, but said both entities have initiated their respective processes. It said it would not comment further while these matters are under investigation.

 

Additionally, the UHWI Board has approved the hospital's Chief Executive Officer, Fitzgerald Mitchell's application for three-month leave from his accrued leave entitlement.

 

The Board said this decision was taken both to address an extensive leave backlog and to facilitate the independent conduct of the reviews and processes now underway stemming from the Auditor General's report without any perception of influence.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Wednesday, Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton said a six-member committee set up to review the operations of the hospital should deliver its report to him over the next four months.

 

"There's an argument that says that they are not governed by the GOJ procurement process. They are governed by the University Charter. So, for example, because they get support from other governments in the Caribbean. So if a government, for example Trinidad or Bahamas were to give them resources to purchase a particular piece of equipment as part of the training, then the rules around how they secure that equipment is not governed by the Government of Jamaica procurement process. I make no judgment except that we need clarity," said the Health Minister. 

 

"If there are breaches, let the chips fall where they may, and they must be corrected. If there is clarity required around how the procurement process should be standardised, this team that I've appointed is the right team, I believe, to do that because this team is a very qualified team, very competent team," added Dr. Tufton, who said he was "anxious" to get the committee's report in the next four months. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Shadow Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Alfred Dawes, says the Auditor General's finding that no procurement documents were located for $521 million in contracts awarded by the UHWI confirms a long-standing pattern of governance failure within the public health system that has been sanctioned at the highest level.

 

"The Auditor General has now confirmed what I have been warning about for over a year. No procurement documents were found for $521 million in contracts awarded by the University Hospital of the West Indies. That is not a clerical error. This is a serious failure of governance. For more than a year, I raised concerns about procurement practices across the Ministry of Health and its agencies. Each time, the minister assured the country that systems were sound and functioning properly. The Auditor General has now shown that this was simply not true. Despite repeated public assurances from Health Minister Christopher Tufton, hundreds of millions of dollars were committed without basic documentation," Dr. Dawes complained. 

 

He said Dr. Tufton must take responsibility for the procurement crisis. 

 

The opposition spokesman also called for independent accountability measures, stressing that the public cannot have confidence in internal reviews conducted by the same leadership that presided over the failures.

 

"This government has been in office for nearly a decade. After three consecutive terms, excuses about inherited problems are no longer credible. When procurement fails, hospitals go without equipment, health care workers are left unsupported and patients pay the price. That is how a health system is driven into crisis. A system cannot credibly investigate itself. A committee appointed by the minister to probe the failures he presided over is like a man on trial choosing his own jury," he reasoned.