Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

Contractor General Greg Christie has been called in to probe the tender process at the National Health Fund (NHF), following some 'shady' awarding of contracts.

At the same time, Rudyard Spencer, minister of health and the environment, confirmed yesterday that chief executive officer of the NHF, Rae Barrett, had been fired.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Spencer said there had been several breaches of contract at the NHF but only commented on one, which he said could not be challenged.

Tremendous work

He explained that there was a tender process in May and several persons had applied. A tender, he said, turned up four days after the process had closed and a contract was awarded to the late tender. This, Spencer said, was unacceptable.

"Don't matter where it may lie, the fact is, if there is anything that is fundamentally wrong that will breach that principle of good governance and transparency, we have the responsibility to ensure that it is corrected," Spencer told reporters at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel.

The health minister commended the NHF board for what he described as the tremendous work they had done and their unrelenting approach in dealing with the matters of "accountability, transparency and conflict of interest".

"We as a government company can't be seen to be breaking or violating our own National Contracts Commission rules, and whether or not we like it, it is something that had to be dealt with in a serious way, and we have," said Spencer.

Ryland Campbell resigned as chairman of the board last week. Spencer said Campbell had not been asked to resign, but Campbell felt it was the right thing to do.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com