Dawes wants Auditor General’s Department and Integrity Commission to investigate purchase of surgical drill for Bustamante Hospital

Opposition Spokesman on Health, Dr Alfred Dawes, says he will be asking the Auditor General’s Department and the Integrity Commission to investigate the purchase of a $31-million neurosurgical drill for the Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew.

According to Dawes, who is also a medical doctor, his investigation into the procurement process for the drill has revealed what he describes as “obvious corruption [and] blatant mismanagement taking place in the Ministry of Health.”

Speaking at a press conference today, he divulged what he claims is evidence of the hijacking of the procurement process, “where an internal source determined that a fair price for that drill was $31 million.”

According to him, the company that won the bid to supply the hospital with the drill had imported two of the same drills months earlier.

Dawes further asserted that the company’s customs declaration form, which he said was accompanied by an invoice from the manufacturer, revealed that one of the drills was purchased for US$1,600, and an additional J$90,000 was paid in customs fees.

Additionally, he stated that the drills were not new, but refurbished.

“It cost the company $250,000 to have that drill in Jamaica. Is the $31-million drill at the Bustamante Hospital for Children one of these drills that were imported in November last year?” Dawes asked.

“If it is a case where the drill that was purchased from the same company just after these two drills were imported is a different drill, what was the justification for paying $31 million for a drill that could have been brought and landed in Jamaica for less than $300,000? Is that a fair price?” he asked further.

The neurosurgical drill is designed to support critical brain and spinal surgeries in paediatric patients.

Chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), Wentworth Charles, in a statement last month, shared that it was the first of its kind in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Describing Dawes, who has publicly voiced concerns about the procurement process for the drill, as “mischievous,” Charles said SERHA engaged in a competitive bidding process and three suppliers submitted proposals, ranging from a low of approximately $12 million to a high of over $50 million for the supply and delivery of the neurosurgical drill and advanced attachments for it, including a two-year preventative maintenance service contract.

He also said the bids were evaluated by doctors at the Kingston Public Hospital and the Bustamante Hospital for Children, who made their recommendations, which were approved by SERHA.

However, Dawes is maintaining that the money spent on this single drill could have been better used to improve resources and infrastructure at hospitals.

“This is not about politics; this is about the blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars,” he asserted.

He added, “What could have possessed someone to spend $31 million on a drill when they could have bought 1,000 of those same drills? When they could have bought a CT scanner so babies and children would not lose valuable time and increase their chance of complications and dying, if they did a CT scan at Bustamante Hospital rather than going to Kingston Public Hospital to have a scan done?”

- Sashana Small

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