Linden Hospital spends almost $300M without providing financial reports

Nov 02, 2018 News

-escapes Audit Office’s scrutiny

The Linden Hospital Complex has been able to escape the scrutiny of the Audit Office. As such, the Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, in his latest report, said that he cannot account as to whether the $295.1M that was handed to the institution was actually spent for the purposes intended.
The Linden Hospital Complex is headed by Dr. Mohammad Riyasat.
The Audit Office said that during 2017, the Ministry of Public Health transferred to the Linden Hospital Complex $295.148M from its current provisions.

CEO of Linden Hospital, Dr Mohammad Riyasat

Auditors said that the sum was to have met the operational costs of the Hospital.
However, auditors noted, “The utilisation of the current appropriation to fund the Hospital was questioned, because funding for that entity was included under Programme 434-Regional and Clinical Services in the budget of the Ministry, as though it was a department, while funding was disbursed as if it was a subvention agency under the Ministry.”
The Ministry of Health responded that the Linden Hospital Complex falls under Regional and Clinical Services, where monies are appropriated under this activity to discharge its function as a level 4 Care, thus resulting in the expenditures incurred.
The Audit Office also noted that the Linden Hospital Complex was granted approval by Cabinet on 24 November 2015, to function as a board during the period 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016.
However, “at the time of reporting, the board was non-operational. The manner in which the funds continued to be disbursed to the Complex, resulted in the following: the Linden Hospital Complex was not an autonomous or semi-autonomous body regulated under an Act of Parliament; and the entity was being managed by a Management Committee and was not required to provide the Ministry with financial or other reports that would indicate that some form of Ministerial supervision was exercised over its processes.
As a result, it could not be determined whether the sum of $295.148M was expended for the purposes intended.”
Ministry of Health responded to the Auditor General indicating that the Linden Hospital Complex is managed by an oversight Committee designated as the Linden Hospital Management Committee; and “expenditures are in keeping with its annual work plan, budgetary allocations and compliance to the financial system. These expenditures are entered into the Integrated Management Financial Information System (IMFIS).”
The Audit Office recommended that the Ministry takes “affirmative action to discuss this matter with the subject Minister and, if necessary, the Office of the Budget of the Ministry of Finance, with a view to having definitive decisions and action towards regularising the status of the Linden Hospital Complex.”