Health Division: Audit won't affect hirings

THA minority member Farley Augustine
THA minority member Farley Augustine

THE Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) has defended its decision to advertise vacant procurement specialist and hospital administrator positions despite an ongoing audit into the Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology departments.

Responding to questions e-mailed by Newsday, the communications department of the Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development said, “The positions being advertised are procurement specialist and hospital administrator, which have no direct connection to the finance, human resources and information technology departments. The application deadline for procurement specialist has expired, while the application deadline for hospital administrator is 8th April, 2019. No interviews have been conducted thus far. Applicants for procurement specialist are currently being short-listed.”

However, representative for Parlatuvier/Speyside/ L’Anse Fourmi Farley Augustine has once again called on the TRHA and the Health Division to reveal who is doing interviews for positions within the TRHA if its HR department remains on administrative leave.

Last week, during the Progressive Democratic Patriots' (PDP) media briefing, Augustine called on the TRHA or a member of the executive council to bring transparency to the audit.

On Tuesday, Farley told Newsday he is still waiting for the TRHA to say how many employees were sent on leave, when the audit is expected to be completed, who is the team responsible for doing it, how much they were being paid and what the TRHA hopes to achieve when the completed report is handed over.

He said, “The question remains, who is leading the process for hiring the staff? Because that is the duty for the TRHA HR department, which is still on leave. In the first place, if you sent your HR staff on leave pending an audit, it means you have suspected them to have done something wrong or out of line against the policies of the organisation.”

Farley said the matter is being dealt with too secretively.

“The division is hiding something from Tobagonians," he said, "Transparent governance means that you operate in a manner that is open to all. It means all your actions and steps are placed before the public for public scrutiny and accountability.

"Why is it difficult to tell Tobagonians what is happening and why? They should do the right thing and be transparent, and now that they are not coming forth with all the information, it means they are hiding something.”

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