By Prior Beharry
HEAD of the Citizens Union of Trinidad and Tobago (CUTT) Phillip Edward Alexander is calling for a forensic audit into the health sector in T&T.
He made the call in a Facebook post on Friday.
Alexander said there was no evidence of what was spent in the health sector in the fight against Covid-19.
He said the country was struggling to cope with only 51 intensive care unit beds and 48 ambulances for Covid-19.
Alexander said the public has a right to know what billions of dollars were spent on.
He posted, “For too long rumours of government ministers, medical professionals, medical suppliers and others using the public health sector as a feeding trough to steal public funds, the time is right and this issue most appropriate for a forensic audit if not a commission of enquiry into where taxpayer funding into public sector really goes.”
At a press conference in August, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said, “For Covid, we have crossed the $5 billion mark. We intend to provide as much relief as we can.”
On Wednesday, Principal Medical Officer of Institutions, Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said ICU beds in the parallel healthcare systems were increased to 65 with five of those in Tobago.
And in answering an urgent question in Parliament on Wednesday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said, “We have taken decisive action since the start of the pandemic to manage the healthcare system. In the case of the ambulance service where GMRTT has a functioning fleet of 48, we are working with them to bring more of the ambulance fleet in operation.”
He said of the 50 ambulances in the regional health authorities, 12 were in use for Covid patients.
See related stories below:
Alexander: Covid Can’t be Blamed for Strain on Ambulance Service
