Guy questions hotel lease for COVID quarantine
Published:Wednesday | May 3, 2023 | 12:50 AM
Dr Morais Guy, a member of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), on Tuesday questioned how much money the Ministry of Health and Wellness spent on a one-year lease of the Marbella Hotel in St Thomas to house quarantined persons during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dunstan Bryan said he was unable to say how much money was spent by his ministry to lease the facility, which was previously known as the Three Finger Jack Hotel.
He pledged to provide the information at a later date.
Guy said he saw where the ministry spent some $13 million on the improvement of the facility, which is located in Marbella Estate.
Bryan said the arrangement involved a one-year lease developed and signed through the National Land Agency (NLA), which worked with the health ministry to execute the arrangement.
On the question of money spent to purchase Samsung television sets for the quarantine facility, Bryan said that in order to house persons in a quarantine facility, the ministry had to provide basic amenities for their comfort.
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis said in a November 2022 compliance audit compendium report of the health ministry that the ministry spent $2 million to purchase 45 television sets and 15 tablets.
She said that the ministry did not indicate on the purchase records the reasons for acquiring the items.
The auditor general's report showed that the average price for one of the Samsung television sets was $37,000.
However, Bryan told members of the PAC that the persons who were quarantined had to stay in that facility, in some instances, for up to 33 days.
He said that the ministry retrofitted the facility with not only television sets but also entered into an arrangement with a cable company and provided Wi-Fi service for them to access the Internet.
“It was felt at the time that as a humane issue, we should provide the requisite arrangement for their comfort,” Bryan said.