Specialty Hospital may suffer same fate as Skeldon and Amaila – Ramjattan

The new Specialty Hospital that the government intends to build may end up being a Skeldon Sugar Factory that’s overpriced and faulty, according to Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjatan.

AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjatan

Ramjatan told Kaieteur News yesterday that while he is not an expert on how Specialty Hospitals are priced, he knows that taking into consideration the corrupt disposition of the government and its propensity for profiting from kickbacks, the specialty hospital may very well be overpriced to cater for that. The contract for the construction and furnishing of the specialized equipment necessary for the hospital was given to Surendra Engineering Corporation Limited of India. According to Ramjatan, he knew of a reputable and legitimate consulting company from India that had built Specialty Hospitals before which submitted a bid for this Surgical Speciality Hospital at a lower price than the one Surendra Engineering provided. Ramjatan said that there is no evidence to date to show that this company ever built a specialty hospital. As such, he said that the company is now “begging” other companies to come on board to aid in the construction. He further posited that the project should be halted, since it mirrors the ‘Fip’ Motilall fiasco, where Motilall was given the contract for the access road and the licence for the construction of Amaila falls Hydro Project. This was despite revelations that Motilall had no knowledge of building Hydro projects. The contract document outlined that “the Contractor [Surendra Engineering] will be required to complete the facilities which will provide a complete range of services and operations including surgeries supported by the latest therapeutic, diagnostic and high end medical equipment with the following: outpatient/ inpatient service, preventive health care, 19 bed intensive care unit, 6 bed paediatric and neonatal intensive care unit,6 bed post-operative recovery beds, operation theatres inclusive of 2 gynaecology theatres,2 labour room and 1 post-labour room, advanced cardiac catheterization lab. Endoscopy Unit, 24 – Hour Pharmacy, 24 – Hour MRI / CT scan and Digital X-ray Services,24 – Hour pathology services, 24 – Hour Blood Bank and Component Therapy, 24 – Hour Ambulance Services and 24- Hour Emergency/Casualty/Trauma Centre.” It further outlined that “the contracted firm shall propose (and supply and install) state of the art equipment suitable for use in a super Specialty Hospital as defined above, which will comprise but not limited to the major medical equipment for the following services: MRI, CT, Ultrasound, Cath lab, C-Arm, EEG/EMG, Digital X-ray, Echo, ECG, TMT, Endoscope /Colonoscopy/Laparoscope.” The AFC leader also likened the project to that of the Skeldon sugar factory which he said was built by somebody who never knew how to build a sugar factory hence the level of infrastructural and mechanical problems plaguing the institution.