NCRHA rejects tent quotation

THE NORTH Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) said that it has rejected a quotation from a potential supplier for tents at a high cost.

The statement appeared to be in response to a Facebook video post on Tuesday by Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) political leader Phillip Edward Alexander who claimed a financier of the PNM and UNC put forward a quotation for $.5m to rent two tents for a month (or $8,000 per day) for the Health Ministry.

“Because they use covid19 to loot this country. And I was warning TT about that. We do not know how much money was spent for anything under the guise of this pandemic,” Alexander said in his FB video post. The NCRHA, in a media release, quoted CEO Davlin Thomas saying that the authority received numerous quotations daily.

“We reject undesirable quotations daily, it’s just part of the job of our purchasing department.”The NCRHA stated that, apart from rejecting the quotation shown, the purchasing department was able to secure alternative tents at a discounted rate that best suited the needs of the authority and its patients. Thomas also said the NCRHA will not be distracted from its mission to deliver quality care to its patients, and he assured citizens that the country will continue to get value for its investment in healthcare.

“Also worth mentioning is the fact that the NCRHA was able to decrease expenditure by $30 million dollars, below its allocation, due to its disruptive innovations during fiscal 2018-19 and has continued to engage in continuous cost saving exercises subsequently.”

Alexander told Newsday that the NCRHA has a a duty of responsibility to give the public evidence that they rented the tents at a lower price. He also said the public has every right to ask what other ministries or organisations of state are renting from the individual and what prices they are paying.

“Why would a company that is so established feel confident enough to write a quotation for $8,000 a day to rent those tents if they expected it would be rejected?”