Hon. Leader of the Opposition Easton Taylor-Farrell and his colleague the Hon. Dr Samuel Joseph MLA called the December 2017 public consultation on the Health Care Review a sham and laid the blame for the outcomes of the health care report delivered by Mott McDonald at the feet of the Government of Montserrat.
On Wednesday night’s radio show Viewpoint, the opposition members said the government were the contracting agent and have failed in their responsibility. Based on the 103-page Terms of Reference sent out to attract bids, Mott McDonald delivered their report, the opposition leader said on air.
In December, Ministry of Health officials had made it clear that the TOR had been drawn up as per DfID parameters however, the Government of Montserrat is identified as the contracting authority and was responsible for paying the consultants.
Taylor-Farrell said the TOR asked for the consultant to look at cost effectiveness, provide value for the government and sought to identify the minimum package of services for the people of Montserrat. ITT-Health-System-Financing-Review-Published-Version-August-2016-update
Under the Need for the review, “an assessment of which treatments and diagnostics should be performed on island versus those which would be more cost-effective to be referred; and c) the need for contractual arrangements with a referral centre on a neighbouring island to achieve maximum benefit and best value from economies of scale” was requested.
Dr Joseph said as the contracting authority and based on the TOR, the government at any time could have reviewed the work done and called for a public consultation to look at the progress. He added that the current drive to blame the consultants and/or DfID was a sham as there was no one else to blame but the government.
“The public should have been involved earlier.” at the draft stage of the health review and financing report, he said.
Both opposition members noted that the consultants had already been paid which intimated that the government was satisfied with the services provided by the company. They noted that to date, nothing has been heard from the Hon. Premier Donaldson Romeo regarding the matter.
Meanwhile, Members of the Legislative Assembly Claude Hogan and Dr Ingrid Buffonge have spoken out about the contents of the report and the negative impact it would have on healthcare and potential growth of the population.
Listen to the programme here –
https://montserratradioecho.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/wednesday-january-24-2018-view-point/
