THE health ministry says it is not anticipating a 50 per cent spike in private security costs, as has been speculated, following the recent landmark high court ruling in favour of security guards employed to Marksman Limited.

Speaking at a meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) on Wednesday, as members pored over additional funding to the ministry allocated in the first supplementary estimates for the fiscal year, permanent secretary Dunstan Bryan said the ministry is currently at the table with the private security firms which provide services across the health sector.

He said adjustments will be made to the rates, to accommodate the new minimum wage, but that it is not yet clear how the court ruling will impact the negotiations.

In its September 23 judgement, the court ruled that Marksman security guards are employees and not independent contractors, a move which the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security (JSIS) projected would result in an immediate 50 per cent increase in the cost to private security providers that would be passed on to clients.

“Several conversations are happening and where we are in the Ministry of Health and Wellness is to ensure that once we begin to get the claims from amendments to the contracts that we are in a position to validate claims that will be made,” Bryan told the committee.

He noted that based on the ministry’ analysis of the implications of the court ruling, it is “not at 50 per cent; we believe it’s less than 50 per cent, but again, it’s a contract negotiation. We are looking forward to the submission from security firms in that regard”.

Meanwhile, the ministry has received an additional $1 billion to cover arrears which accumulated during the COVID-19 period. Bryan explained that the supplementary funds are being allocated to take care of the $1 billion, which was allocated to the ministry in April, and mainly distributed to the regional health authorities to pay for security, portering and other operational activities.

The permanent secretary said over the past eight months the ministry has significantly reduced arrears which were being carried on its books for 90 days or more: “We do have some carryover because of the issues that we are having with the adjustment for the provision of security services in the health facilities…we are in active conversation to deal with the issues that arise from the adjustments in the minimum wage that has impacted the contracts we have with the security firms, as well as some of the other services like portering”.

A total of $5.8 billion more has been allocated to the ministry in the supplementary budget, moving from just over $91 billion to $96.8 billion.