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{
    "id": 300699,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/300699/?format=api",
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    "content": "of people accredited to us.” We started seeing the difference, which meant that there probably was somebody somewhere who was trying to benefit unfairly through the programme. Therefore, we got get evidence from the service providers, that is Meridian Healthcare and Clinix Healthcare, who said: “We were capitated for the total number of people accredited to us.” The NHIF gave us material saying that they capitated them according to the number of outlets that were available. The interesting thing was that when we looked at those outlets that were available, we found that some outlets were not functioning while others were non-existent. Even in the process of investigating, some service providers were still opening new outlets which, interestingly enough, had been licensed. You cannot license an outlet which is not functional, because outlets have to be inspected. The public health officer in an area inspects that outlet to show that it is fit to be a clinic, then they apply to the Medical Board, to be given the licence. This was a situation where some non-existent or non-functional outlets had licences. That raised a red flag. We found that to be something that we did not expect to find. Something else that came up was that because this programme was being rolled out in a fast tracked manner, the fast tracking meant that proper controls had not been put in place. That is why we have recommended that an inter-ministerial committee be formed to ensure that they streamline these services. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we further recommended that the programme should not be stopped. We do not want the programme to be stopped. Many questions have been asked on why we did not recommend that Meridian and Clinix be stopped from rendering the services. As a Committee, we hesitated to do that because we felt that this would disrupt the services and if you disrupt the services of such a programme, then you would roll back and start all over again. However, the group that was appointed to oversee the issue has already done that. They have done that and they are now going ahead to properly inspect the facilities and do proper accreditation. So, some of the things we are discussing today are already being implemented on the ground which is a plus. But we need to point this out because as we start to implement the new Constitution, many other such services will come up for implementation. When such services come up for implementation, there are those carpet baggers who will try to ride on the back of such services to gain unfairly and that is what the Committee was mainly looking at. The other issue was really interesting. We had Clinix Healthcare which is owned by two companies. One of the companies that own Clinix Healthcare is registered in the Virgin Islands and up to today, we have not found the directors of that company in the Virgin Islands. We felt that was a danger to the whole of this country; that a company can come and trade in this place and yet we do not know its directors. They could be unsavory characters and they are allowed to do business in the country. We felt that was very dangerous for the country. There is the issue of capacity of these clinics to render services. When we went round, we found that some of those facilities did not have the requisite personnel to render the services and some of their facilities were not up to date in the sense that you could find a laboratory squeezed in a corridor. The interesting thing was that the facility had been licensed. The licensing authority, therefore, is at fault and that is why some of our recommendations are that this issue needs to be looked at again."
}