CT scan firm under investigation

THE NORTH-West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) has reportedly not received monies due from a joint venture arrangement with HTI Limited. This was revealed yesterday by Health Minister John Rahael who said he has “already requested” information on this matter and others pertaining to HTI. Rahael told Parliament on Friday that HTI was awarded a contract without tender for a CT scan for the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH). The minister said under this five-year contract, HTI had exclusive rights to have a CT scan at PoSGH and “no other institution or  authority, not even the NWRHA or the Ministry of Health, can now put a CT scan in Port-of-Spain or within a three-mile radius.”  Rahael also said HTI was paid $500,000 by the then UNC government.

On Saturday, HTI managing director Rodger Varley confirmed that HTI was paid $500,000 by the NWRHA but said it was “primarily to validate their wish for it to be established as a joint venture.” Varley also confirmed that the contract included a three-mile exclusion zone from Government, “protect our (HTI) investment.”  He claimed HTI contributed well over $4 million “to the benefit of taxpayers and poor people.” Rahael said his latest information from the NWRHA suggests that HTI has not paid “a single red cent” as it was supposed to under the joint venture arrangement.  He said the NWRHA was supposed to receive 15 percent of revenues from that joint venture but there are no records to show that the NWRHA was paid these monies.

Referring to HTI’s alleged $4 million contribution, Rahael said this meant HTI was receiving profits to the tune of $12 million and he wondered how much of this money had gone back into the NWRHA’s coffers. He said because the former regime waived duties on the equipment, HTI  provided CT scans at the prices Varley claimed they offered. Noting that some private sector companies in Port-of-Spain have MRI machines, Rahael said Varley’s arguments about the three-mile radius were “not valid.” The minister reiterated that HTI was charging patients between $1,200 and $1,900 for a CT scan. He added that all the information on HTI was contained in a 2001 Price Waterhouse Coopers report ordered by former Finance Minister Gerald Yetming after allegations of impropriety surfaced at the NWRHA. Rahael hinted that HTI’s contract will not be renewed when it expires in August 2005.