NERHA says it has excess Petrojam donation

The North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) has released a statement seeking to assure that it has the balance of a donation it received from the state-owned oil refinery Petrojam to buy an incubator.

An Integrity Commission report published Tuesday revealed that on March 30, 2017, NERHA’s chairman, Tyrone Robinson, submitted a request to Petrojam for $1.2 million to buy the incubator for the Annotto Bay Hospital. 

In making the request, Robinson said the estimated cost for one incubator was $1.2 million. 

However, the commission’s director of investigation said, at the time NERHA was well aware that the cost to buy one incubator was $578,290. . 
That finding, the report said, was based on submissions from NERHA’s Regional Director, Fabia Lamm, who informed that the incubator was bought at the price quoted by Medical Link, the successful bidder in a tender process used by the health authority.  

NERHA has still not explained why it requested from Petrojam, almost twice the cost of the equipment.

Two other entities had submitted quotations - Donemar Limited for $1.2 million on March 17, 2017 and Industrial & Technical Supplies for $1.5 million on March 20, 2017.

The incubator was delivered to the hospital on October 5, 2017.

The Integrity Commission report did not account for the balance of $621,710.

But NERHA now says it would be in its official account approved by the health and finance ministries. 

NERHA further explained that since it provided a detailed response to the Integrity Commission on March 8, 2019, there have not been any follow-up questions, interviews, or queries with the authority. 

“NERHA asserts that its governance, management, and conduct concerning its operations, especially in relation to donations have always been above board, open to scrutiny,” said a spokesperson in the statement. 

Port Maria Mayor Richard Creary, who at the time was a Petrojam board member, formally handed over the money on June 30, 2017, during a tour of the hospital attended by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.

The NERHA board chairman was also a member of the board of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, the parent company for Petrojam.

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