Ministry of Health fire….
$2.5M in petty cash, other tender recovered
MINISTER OF Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has dubbed statements in some sections of the media about ‘missing evidence’ following the fire on Friday which gutted the Ministry of Health on Brickdam as “nonsense” and “manufactured stories” which make no sense.

Dr. Leslie Ramsammy addressing the media at the NAPS office yesterday

And alluding to mention made about a recent query in the Auditor General’s report about $120M, Dr Ramsammy dismissed this too, stating that those records were recovered prior to the fire, and provided to the Auditor General.

“So there was no need for us to destroy them; they are already in possession of the Auditor General …Nothing that came up in the Auditor General’s Report in terms of the public accounts has been affected by fire,” he told reporters yesterday at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) on upper Hadfield Street.

Ramsammy said that even though their financial records may have been destroyed, such records are usually duplicated since the centralization of the financial systems, and kept at the Ministry of Finance.

“Everything that we have, they have at the Ministry of Finance,” he stressed.

But the good news, he said, is that the Ministry of Health’s petty cash, to the tune of $2.5M, in addition to millions of dollars worth in cheques, representing the monthly salaries and wages for staff, contractors and other expenses, were recovered intact on Friday, following the fire.

“I am happy to say that in spite of the fire, all those important records that need to be in the vault and properly placed [there] were recovered. Cash to the tune of approximately $2.5M for petty business were retrieved from the rubble.”

Minister Ramsammy confirmed that the vault was removed from the rubble in the presence of the police, and more importantly, in the presence of staff from the Auditor General’s Office. Said parties, he said, verified that the sums recovered were returned to the Accountant General’s Office.

“We were able to remove the vault in the presence of police officers, and importantly in the presence of staff from the Auditor General’s Office, and it was verified that the sums recovered were returned to the Accountant General’s Office.”

Dr. Ramsammy outlined that policy demands that such cash and cheques recovered from the rubble be returned to the Ministry of Finance, verified by the Auditor General, and at a later date released to the Ministry of Health.

He said the reason there were that many cheques on the premises at the time the fire struck was because it was close to pay-day.

The next move, he said, would be to re-issue new cheques, since those exposed to the heat of the fire would have to be written off. This notwithstanding, he said he is determined that his staff should be paid by Tuesday.

And setting the record straight in relation to procurement and supplies, he said the Ministry’s Procurement and Materials Management Unit was never located at the Brickdam office, but at the Kingston facility, hence any insinuation that the Ministry wanted to destroy evidence is “totally mischievous.”

While admitting that the fire was a tragedy, and certainly an accident, he nonetheless observed that there were “many good stories” coming out of the incident, such as the camaraderie it engendered among volunteers and Ministry of Health staff, who all came together to see what they could help save.

Two vehicles were destroyed; one was badly damaged; and another fared a little better, the minister said.

What was most encouraging, he said, was the way in which staff at all levels are coming together to ensure that come tomorrow morning when people need their services, they are available and prepared.

And alluding to the rebuilding of the ravaged facility, the health Minister reassured those present that it will be one that will by all means outclass the building just downed by fire.

“We are determined that when we rebuild, it will be a Ministry that is going to take us into a different era in terms of health. We have already entered that era, with new and better services … and our Ministry of Health building will reflect that…,” he concluded.