Premier Ralph T. O?Neal, OBE is pictured as he signed an NHIS agreement with Professor Karl Theodore of the UWI. Deputy Premier on March 12, 2010. Minister of Health and Social Development Dancia Penn, OBE, QC witnessed the Premier?s signature. (FILE PHOTO/Photo credit: Jasmine Perez/GIS
The government will end up spending much more than initially budgeted for the formulation and implementation of the much-vaunted national insurance health scheme.
Health Minister Ronnie Skelton has disclosed that up to August 31 the government had spent $466,124.34 than was originally budgeted.
?In June 2006, a one-year contract in the amount of $585,100 was signed with the University of the West Indies, Health Economics Unit (UWI/HEU) to design the system and support its implementation? Madam Speaker, as of August 31, 2012, the Government of the Virgin Islands has paid a total of $1,051,224.34 to the consultant since the commencement of the project,? Skelton told the House of Assembly.
In explaining the reason for the costs adjustments, Skelton made reference to a number of set-backs, mainly under the previous administration. He cited the suspension of the project in July 2007, its transfer from the Premier?s Office to the Ministry of Health and Social Development in August 2008, the renegotiation of the contract as well as the recent extension for the deadline for completion.
Skelton told the House:? ?The new contract was negotiated to take account of cost variations resulting from the inclusion of activities that were not contained in the original agreement, expenses associated with the extension of the project beyond the original contract period, and the additional research required to update data obtained in 2007.?
The expenditure for the national health insurance system is likely to increase, as it is still incomplete six years after the first contract was penned to pave the way for an initial one-year completion schedule. However, Skelton has disclosed that based on a new contract signed in March 2010 and adjusted in June, UWI/HEU should complete the national insurance project by year- end.
?The current agreement was signed on 12 March 2010 for a period of 18 months, and extended on 8 June 2012 for a further period of six months,? he said.
While responding to a raft of questions posed by opposition member and First District representative Andrew Fahie, the health minister said when the new contract was signed, the previous government did not apply competitive bidding to the selection of UWI/HEU as contractor for a second time round.
?When the principal agreement with the UWI Health Economics Unit to complete the NHI project was signed in March 2010 under the then Virgin Islands Party administration, no tender process or other form of competitive bidding was undertaken during its negotiation and formulation,? Skelton explained. ?This may have been predicated on the consultant?s unique capabilities and prior knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, having previously conducted research on the topic on behalf of the Government of the Virgin Islands, and several other countries in the Caribbean region?.
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