FOLLOWING a recent visit to Berbice by Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton, an auditing team is currently examining the state of affairs within the health sector in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).On Monday afternoon, Regional Chairman Mr. David Armogan told reporters that he was appalled at the report that $25M was expended on curtains by the Regional Health Authority.

“It was reported in the press that the sum of $25 million was spent on the purchasing of blinds in 2014. Now when I checked …. because I couldn’t understand why you would have to buy blinds costing twenty-five million …and so when I checked with the accounting section of the Regional Accounting Section here, I was given a figure of $306,240, which is less than one million dollars.”

“It was for twenty-two pieces of bamboo blinds,” he explained, when questioned by the media.

“ …that amount of money that they claimed was spent on blinds …twenty-five million… is totally an erroneous figure.”

Further, for 2013, $1.3M was expended on curtains, leatherette and plastic covers for mattresses and beds along with paraphernalia for the health system.

While the seemingly exorbitant spending has raised ‘eyebrows’, even as the critics had a field day cyberspace and other media, Armogan expressed confidence that nothing untoward had occurred.

“The Minister has ordered the audit and we appreciate that because we want to ensure that nothing untoward has happened, and that nothing has happened to embarrass ….we are happy that the auditors are here and they are looking at every dollar that has been spent in the health sector. I do not know if they are looking at this year or last year alone or the previous year.”

Meanwhile, addressing the issuance of contracts to special persons, Armogan, speaking at his office in the Regional Administrative Complex, on Monday, noted that there has also been some elements of accusations in terms of how contracts are awarded.

“I wish to point out very clearly, that the contract for goods and services in the region are awarded through the Regional Tender Board, for a certain amount of money which is under $9M. Anything in excess of $9M is awarded through the Central Tender Board in Georgetown.”

The Chairman added that whenever services are needed, they are put out to be tendered, and he was not aware of any breaches of the procedure.

By Jeune Bailey Vankeric