Ferguson
Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter
DESPITE funding being a major problem in the country's health sector, administrators at the St Ann's Bay Hospital have allowed close to $2 million to sit idle in an account for two decades.
An advertisement published in The Gleaner on Saturday, which detailed the list of customers failing to claim their funds for a number of years from the Bank of Nova Scotia and Citibank, pointed to the hospital being among those with dormant accounts.
The last time the hospital made a transaction on the account was in 1991.
The revelation of the idle money in a bank yesterday took Health Minister Rudyard Spencer by surprise. He said he would be asking that an audit be done throughout the sector to determine whether such situations exist in other institutions.
"We need to know where all these monies are," Spencer said while adding that he is surprised that the management of the North East Regional Health Authority was not aware of the existence of the dormant account.
"I find it strange that they don't even know that the money is there and we are strapped for cash," Spencer said.
"When they don't have any money, they hound the ministry that they don't have this and they don't have that. But there it is they have nearly $2 million sitting on and they don't even know that the money is there. That is unacceptable," Spencer said.
Suzette Morris, the regional director for the North East Regional Health Authority, told The Gleaner that the current administration was only made aware of the sum last year when the information was first published in The Gleaner. She said the institution is now close to accessing the money to carry out an important refurbishing exercise.
Morris said that a former CEO of the hospital and a former chairperson of the region were the persons who signed on the account, and they did not disclose the information to any current member of the hospital's administration.
"When we contacted them, they said these funds were private donations that they had received for the hospital and for us to access the funds, we would have to give them a project for the hospital," Morris said.
Commenting on the situation, Opposition Spokesman on Health Dr Fenton Ferguson said it shows the weakness in the control of the accounting system of the institution.
"Even though these are private donations, these funds ought to become a part of the overall accounts, even if they are kept in a separate account. It ought to reflect in the audit, it ought to reflect in any (financial) arrangements at the hospital," he argued.
"Whether it is the internal or external auditors, account such as that ought to turn up along the way, so it ought not to depend on individuals, it is the system that you put in place to reflect these things. So whether it is a change of govern-ment or a change of administrator, that ought not to happen," he added.
He said it opened way for questions about what could be taking place in other institutions.
"It is carelessness and whichever administration is guilty, whether past or present, it is part of what sometimes happen in institutions when persons take on to themselves a kind of ownership of public funds," Ferguson said.
The opposition spokesman argued that beyond the health institution, proper vigilance is needed to ensure that special accounts in public institutions be managed properly so that the funds are used to develop the different sectors.
In the meantime, Morris said the St Ann's Bay Hospital is poised for a facelift as plans are in place to use the money in the dormant account. She said the hospital will be installing air-conditioning units at the outpatient and the accident and emergency departments with the funds.
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