The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) has “finalised” the loan to purchase essential medical equipment for its new Critical Care Block, although its managing directors did not give dates and details on how this would be secured.

Herbert Brown told Tribune Business that the PHA would “make that determination” on the equipment specifics, plus hiring of additional staff, in conjunction with the Government.

“We were arranging a loan for equipment. That loan has been finalised,” Mr Brown said, in response to Tribune Business inquiries surrounding the reasons for the continued delays in opening Princess Margaret Hospital’s (PMH) Critical Care Block.

He did not provide details on the loan, but Dr Perry Gomez, minister of health, had previously disclosed that the PHA and the Government were seeking to arrange a $35 million credit facility with CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas).

Medical equipment and pharmaceutical suppliers will now be waiting to see how rapidly the PHA moves ahead with equipment purchases and contracts, given the controversy that has surrounded this area in recent months.

Mr Brown, though, said the delay in purchasing medical equipment had not been caused by the submission of alternative procurement proposals by the private sector.

He told Tribune Business he had never seen a proposal, developed by Pedro Roberts, the CDM Group’s chief executive, to create a ‘consortium’ that would supply all the PHA’s medical equipment needs under a lease arrangement.

“I know nothing about that,” Mr Brown said of Mr Roberts’s proposal. “There is absolutely nothing that I have before me. I have absolutely nothing.

“No submitted proposal is causing any delay in the Critical Care Block’s opening.”

This seems to contradict Mr Roberts’s previous assertion to Tribune Business that his proposal was “under serious consideration by the powers that be”, unless it is being dealt with at the Ministry of Health or elsewhere on the PHA Board.

A ‘concept paper’ for the proposed consortium, obtained by Tribune Business, said it would take the form of a public-private partnership (PPP) in supplying all the equipment and medical supplies for the Princess Margaret Hospital’s new Critical Care Block.

It estimates that the proposal could cut the PHA’s annual medical equipment maintenance costs by 15-20 per cent.

Yet several medical industry equipment supplier insiders have told Tribune Business that the proposal is not a ‘true PPP’, as the consortium would be owned and financed solely by the private sector - and with no government equity stake involved.

The paper, seemingly written by Mr Roberts, head of the CDM Group, formerly Commonwealth Drug & Medical Supplies, says: “The proposed structure of a lease agreement would be for the consortium to provide the PHA’s medical equipment based on the PHA’s specifications, inclusive of brand selection.

“Where appropriate, the consortium would provide its advice on equipment selection, but would leave the final decision to the PHA.”

This indicates, in effect, that the consortium would be the exclusive, monopoly PHA supplier, squeezing out all other distributors that are not participants, and ignoring their existing supplier relationships.

Tribune Business previously reported how this was raising pricing/cost concerns, as the PHA would be unable to access discounts through approved Bahamian distributors, plus potential issues surrounding the quality of equipment sourced.

Whatever the reasons, the continued delay in opening the Critical Care Block continues to stall the Bahamian people’s access to quality, affordable healthcare when it comes to ‘life and death’ issues.

Tribune Business revealed on Friday how the PHA is locked in a dispute with Cavalier Construction, the project’s contractor, over its outstanding $5.5 million claim.

Cavalier executives said constant design changes had caused delays to the construction completion, and were causing ‘the meter to run’ for Bahamian taxpayers - increasing the project’s price tag from $52.5 million to close to $60 million.

Mr Brown denied these charges, and pledged to Tribune Business that “you can be assured” the PHA will do everything in its power to open the Critical Care Block.

“I assure you the PHA will do all that is necessary to ensure the Critical Care Block is open so that the Bahamian people can benefit,” he promised.

However, several observers have suggested that the Government’s handling of this project does not bode well for its much bigger National Health Insurance (NHI) plans.