Cline reveals why hospital AC couldn’t be fixed
Outspoken clergyman John Cline has revealed examples of deeply troubling financial woes at the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA), saying the government should focus on those issues instead of party events like the Music Fest.
Cline — a former Chairman of the BVIHSA board — said repayment of fees is the reason the hospital’s AC system remained broken for an extended time.
“When you see the hospital being shut down because its AC broke and in order for the people (overseas-based AC technicians) to fly, they need money. For me to come, pay me what you owe me and then I’ll get on a plane and fix it. It’s not as simple as the AC broke and it’s taking long, there are outstanding bills that need to be paid,” Cline told JTV in an interview.
When asked how long the service provider usually waits for payment, Cline said they sometimes wait for three months to receive funds from the BVIHSA.
“It can go up to 90 days and while local suppliers will wait 90 days, those abroad won’t. When I was at the hospital, sometimes we didn’t have reagents (vital chemicals) for the lab because we were short on money. Sometimes we had to call the bank and ask for a grace period to make payroll. We had to ask them not to bounce our people’s checks. This is the reality,” Cline explained as he protested the Music Festival.
Health is one of the areas that residents have been calling for the government to make increased investments. Professionals are needed to cover the islands but the territory doesn’t offer competitive salaries and continues to lose professionals to neighbouring jurisdictions and larger countries outside the Caribbean.
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only because he unjustifiably is given a yellow (not that yellow) journalism soap box to stand on to spout ‘expert’ poppy-cock nonsense.
Again the man who heads up health is a no use.Not incline mechanically/nor in health/not even common sense.Only in the BVI
So Cline admits that even under his own stewardship things were badly managed. The sad reality though is that up to today they are still badly managed. What a sad state of affairs
Our country is SO broken
“Our Country is so broken”
But Many people are still coming.
I wonder why?
Lets fix the BVI my people
and lets live at peace. One BVI
Why are we relying on overseas technicians to come to fix equipment as important as HVAC in the hospital? Given our geographical limitations, why is there not an aggressive preventive maintenance program, and an ample supply of spares thar are replenished as they are used up?
These ain’t A/C’s that you have hanging out your wall in ur house…These are A/C Units used to keep a +5 Story Building Cool on a 24/7 basis…. I don’t know who you know on island, who either 1) builds these systems and/or 2) maintains such equipment.
Please, don’t just air your head out the first time the thought comes to you….
Any of the local companies can! There are many 5 story buildings in the BVI with similar needs as the hospital that are built and serviced by local companies. I don’t understand why we always seem to believe that our own are never good enough. I believe Todman Air Conditioning had gotten the initial job to work in that hospital AC. Then politics got involved.
Exactly, they are not your average home A/C unit, which is precisely why there should be spares on hand. They may be commercial units but no doubt their flws are well characterized and be planned for through diligent preventive maintenance practices. Saying these A/C units are complicated and then relying on off-island vendors who may be less than responsive because of delays in getting paid for previous work has clearly not worked.
The first thing you learn running a sizable operation of any sort in these islands , is to make yourself self sufficient.
The NHI was marketed by Government as a cure all scheme but we’ve ended up with providers exploiting the system as a cash cow and poorer service as a consequence , as predicted by the governments own advisors.
So nowwwww he is talking? And who was in Government during his tenure as Chairman? It was not Sowande and VIP so what’s his point? I agree in principle with what is being said in terms of wasting of monies when there are more important things being left out, but let us not let our hatred or disappointment in Sowande/VIP let these people cloud our minds. What Cline is now saying should make us all look at him sideways. Is Cline saying the NDP administration were inept as well or just using their failings in his fight against Sowande and VIP? The enemy of your enemy doesn’t make you their friend.
Well, didn’t the majority get that memo and said NDP is no longer good for this country? Haven’t they been sitting on the Opposition for now over five years? So tell us, when do we start blaming the present Government for the foolishness happening NOW or things not getting fixed NOW? What, six more months? In another year? Aren’t they finding money for what they want to pay for and most of it for the revelers who God said in Corinthians will not make it into the Kingdom of Heaven? All of us are not brainwashed. Some of us can see as clear as day.
If this was the private sector and you fire someone for poor management, and hire a new team, that new team has to hit the ground running or they are gone in three to six months. So all I am hearing is he did too, they did too nonsense. Aren’t we adults? Isn’t that Primary School playground bull shiggidy? Man, Get To Work!
No one here smart enough.
the (AC ) is just a tip of the iceberg , the equipment , the machines is next , because they are not being serviced and maintained by people who are trained to work on medical MACHINES & EQUIPMENTS , so poor people have to go there are at the mercy os being tested on a machine that may or may not be working properly , so your life could be in limbo , when you going in there , say a prayer first • DON’T SAY YOU WASN’T TOLD ( BEING MISDIAGNOSED IS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY , we don’t have any minister who is COMPETENT enough , in the medical field / what we have is a chickenhawk who prey on XPATS by using moneygram to DOUBLE TAXING THEM and not COLLECTING from his CROOKED EMPLOYERS FRIENDS ,he should be made to pay whatever taxes he deliberately refused to collect from them for the same
government he is supposed to be working for ( that’s a wicked fellow
The last HSA Board Chair said it publicly and clearly that the health system is broken and financially unsustainable. While he was moving to fix it and hold people accountable, Marlon did a backdoor thing to illegally move him out and bring in his friend, who some say, is his campaign manager. Now no more progress, just stuck in the mud with the car in reverse. Too often, we are our own worst enemy. Nasty politics that only benefits a small few, not the majority of us.
We have money for festival and leveling grounds
Our priorities are twisted
We need a certain number in the population for it to be sustainable and successful
We need better collection of money grom users of the institution
Yet still we make noise too much people in the country
What a ting !!