Opposition Senator Dr Adesh Nanan, on Friday night, called on Attorney General John Jeremie in the Senate to investigate the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) US$25 million contract to Johns Hopkins Medicine International to provide specialised medical training and improved delivery of health services for a four-year period.
Nanan said he was informed that the Health Ministry had received an offer locally for millions of dollars less than the Johns Hopkins contract for a programme to provide primary health care so that persons affected with diseases like diabetes or asthma can receive treatment in their respective communities.
’That programme was being offered to the Ministry of Health over a four-year period for TT$20 million. This John Hopkins Medical International is a private organisation... I don’t know if it’s a government-to-government arrangement, but they have given a programme for US$25 million, when you could have gotten a progamme, if not similar but better, for $20 million,’ Nanan said.
In response to a quip by Jeremie about the name of the organisation that made the $20 million offer, Nanan repeated it, and asked: ’Nanan and Associates? This is no laughing matter. This is serious business.’
Jeremie then asked Nanan to give him the details of the information he possessed. ’We do not know if the programme they have for US$25 million is functional,’ Nanan said of the Johns Hopkins programme.
