Dear Editor,
A news report released by The Nassau Guardian recently gave proof to the ever growing mismanagement of the Bahamian company and its limited resources. The report stated that an internal audit was conducted on the pharmaceutical and medical supplies inventory at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH). It found that $10 million worth of inventory showing up in PMH's computer system cannot be found.
The Guardian also reported that no one in authority to date has given any reasonable explanations for these shortages, which could possibly include corporate malfeasance, collusion and the non-adherence to best business practices.
How can this be? The Public Hospital Authority (PHA) has responsibility for the management of the PMH. Were its officers not appointed to watch over the people's business? The chairman of the PHA is Senator Frank Smith and the managing director of the PHA is Herbert Brown. The Minister of Health is Dr. Perry Gomez.
The final report of the internal audit was dated March 31, 2014 and Gomez, to date, has not seen fit to advise the public of the report's conclusions. That amounts to 189 days of keeping this report a secret.
Gomez must have known that he had an obligation to advise the Bahamian people, and his failure to do so raises questions about his commitment as the minister of health. Moreover, the prime minister, who is also the minister of finance, has a lot to answer for, because it would be inconceivable that this information is as new to him as it is to the Bahamian public.
If this is not endemic incompetence, I don't know what is. The Nassau Guardian also said that the internal audit report even suggested the possibility of corruption amongst employees and wholesalers. Mass firings and police investigations should have commenced, but lo and behold we are in The Bahamas and accountability in our governance appears to be taboo.
Sadly, today most Bahamians have a gut feeling that the perpetrators will not face any penalties and this in itself just shows you the poor leadership state that we are in. God help our Bahamas.
- Dehavilland Moss

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