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‘Why the fuss over Chennai non-payment?’ – Health Minister

Jul 25, 2009 News

“I don’t know why people are making a big fuss out of this. We were never responsible for paying the hospital in the first place, but to avoid embarrassment for the parents and children, the government decided to foot the bill.”
Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who made this observation, noted that the Ministry of Health will pay the Indian Hospital, Frontier Lifeline, in Chennai, India, but will only do so according to the Financial Management Procedure.
The Health Minister told Kaieteur News yesterday that although Cabinet has approved the money to be paid to the hospital, the Ministry needs to follow procedure.
“The Ministry of Health doesn’t take money and hand it over to people just like that, the next thing you know, the Auditor General would question why we did not follow procedure,” Minister Ramsammy said.
He explained that this is a process that takes time, and when all the paper work is done, the Indian Hospital will be paid.
According to the Health Minister, the Ministry received a bill from the hospital for ten children, but Dr. Ramsammy noted that some of the children who went for surgeries had received monies from the Ministry before going off to India.
The Ministry of Health has to pay some US$66,000 to the hospital and according to Dr.Ramsammy, this has not been catered for in the budget.
Recently, the hospital revealed that it did not receive payments outstanding on behalf of Kids First Fund even though it was announced that the government would foot the outstanding balance.
When asked why the hospital, contrary to his report, could report that Government would honour the commitment on behalf of Kids First Fund, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon said that he had noticed the claim made by the hospital and published in the media.
“I haven’t had the opportunity after I saw the report to address Minister (Dr Leslie) Ramsammy.”
On July 9, it was reported that the Ministry of Health had honoured its commitment by meeting the outstanding payments to the Frontier Lifeline Hospital in Chennai, India, where ten children and two adults from Guyana were detained at the hospital for allegedly defaulting on payment of US$91,250.
News of the payment came from Dr. Luncheon, who at a post-Cabinet media briefing, said that the matter had been dealt with by the Health Ministry and that all the payments to the hospital have been concluded.
The children had been taken to the hospital on June 9, last, by former First Lady of Guyana, Varshnie Singh, for heart surgery.
It was reported that when they were about to leave the hospital for the airport, they were told that they wouldn’t be able to do so without making a payment.
They were made to wait in an enclosure outside the casualty ward.
They then wrote, “please help” on a placard and showed it to media persons waiting outside.
The police were called and complaints lodged.
Later, the patients were moved to their beds and told they would then have to speak to the chairman, Dr K M Cherian.
Varshnie Singh told reporters in Chennai, India, “We have been coming here since 2005 and this is our sixth visit. Each time we came, we brought patients.
We would go back, raise funds through various activities like cycle races, luncheons, comedy shows and then pay the hospital.

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