UHWI goes quiet

Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Senior medical executives at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) have refused to address questions raised about a possible conflict of interest involving the hospital's head of radiology.

Last week, The Sunday Gleaner reported that patients needing to have breast biopsies at the UHWI cannot have this crucial procedure done unless they bring their own needles.

An employee of the mammography unit, which is a part of the radiology department, told a patient needing a breast biopsy to determine if lesions found in both breasts were cancerous, that she should purchase the needles at West Indies Radiology Outsourcing Limited (WIROL).

Checks by The Sunday Gleaner have revealed that a Peter Johnson is a director and shareholder in WIROL. Subsequent checks also showed that the head of the UHWI's radiology department is also a Dr Peter Johnson. Documents obtained from the Companies Office of Jamaica's website listed Peter Johnson, director and shareholder in WIROL, as a medical practitioner.

No comment

Several calls were made to the office of Dr Trevor McCartney, chief executive officer of the UHWI, to clarifiy whether the name referred to was the same person. The Sunday Gleaner wanted to know if McCartney was aware that employees of the radiology department were channelling the hospital's patients directly to WIROL, a company that seemingly has links to the head of radiology. McCartney has not been available to speak. The specific questions were given to his secretary, Karlene Peart, who relayed them to McCartney, but still, there was no response. "I don't think he wants to comment," she said on Friday.

Our news team also sought to establish if McCartney knew whether Johnson had any involvement with WIROL.

Efforts to get a comment from Johnson, head of radiology at the UHWI, also came up empty. Johnson's secretary made it known in no uncertain terms that Johnson did not want to speak with the press.

"I don't think he would want to. We have had this conversation before and he has explained that he doesn't want to speak on the matter," she said.

Last week, when McCartney was willing to speak, he told our news team that the hospital ran out of biopsy needles because its United States (US)-based supplier was unwilling to provide the goods unless the Government pays upfront. The hospital CEO revealed that the situation had been like this for three months.

McCartney also revealed that attempts to iron out a compromise with the supplier, which included the posting of a bond, have hit a wall because the company will not budge.

Procurement guidelines breached

And, the hospital has been caught between and a rock and a hard place, because the pre-payment required by the US-based supplier contravenes the Government of Jamaica's procurement guidelines.

In last week's article, the patient who was told to go to WIROL and purchase the biopsy needles said that the receptionist in the mammography unit, reportedly, told her that she would have to buy the needles at that particular entity and "not anywhere else" because if she did, the needles "wouldn't be used".

"She said if they were out of stock, I should wait until the stock is replenished," she had revealed.

When our news team contacted the mammography unit at that time, an employee said that needles could be bought elsewhere, but this particular entity was recommended because the needles sold by WIROL usually got the job done. The employee admitted to knowing of another place that sold biopsy needles, but concluded that they were of inferior quality.

Free health care is offered by all state-owned hospitals and clinics; but the UHWI, though funded by taxpayers' dollars, is not one of them. The teaching hospital is neither private nor public and its patients have to pay for the health-care services offered by the hospital.

A breast biopsy is an important part of the screening process for patients suspected of having malignant tumours.

Previously, the hospital would include the cost of the needles in the total cost of the operation.

The needles patients are told to purchase are described as 14-gauge core biopsy needles. Some experts believe that the use of these 14-gauge needles should be the standard of care. Two of these needles cost approximately $12,000 in Jamaica.