Golding supports call for Auditor General to probe $31m purchase of medical drill

 

President of the People's National Party, Mark Golding, is supporting a call for the Auditor General to probe the $31 million purchase of a medical drill.

 

Opposition Spokesperson on Health Dr. Alfred Dawes initially called for the Auditor General and the Integrity Commission to conduct an audit into the purchase.

 

Medical Technologies Limited, the contract winner, has rejected claims that the equipment was overpriced, but Mr. Golding says there are questions that should be answered about the purchase of the equipment.

 

"A drill which on the market costs one tenth of what the government bought the drill from this company, a company where the majority shareholder is a JLP MP and he claims he's holding the shares in trust, but for who? The thing mix up. It don't smell right; there's something rotten in the state of Jamaica and I'm calling on the Auditor General and the Integrity Commission to look at it and scrutinise it very carefully because the people of Jamaica are suffering in the healthcare system.

 

"There are so many pieces of equipment that need repair or to be replaced, and if you are buying equipment at very inflated prices, those resources are being misused, misappropriated when they should be available to fix the things that are needed to be fixed in the hospitals and in the health centres," he contended. 

 

Mr. Golding said Jamaicans are taking note of the various scandals plaguing the current administration.

 

He was speaking at the meeting in Bath, St. Thomas on Sunday evening.