KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesperson on Health and Wellness Dr Alfred Dawes on Tuesday announced that he has requested the Auditor General’s Department and the Integrity Commission to investigate the procurement of a $31.5 million neurosurgical drill for the Bustamante Hospital for Children, alleging a “web of corruption” surrounding the controversial purchase.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Dawes raised serious questions about the procurement process, claiming that the drill purchased for use at the children’s hospital may have been a refurbished unit imported months earlier at a fraction of the cost.

According to customs documents presented by Dawes, two drills of the same model were imported in November 2024 at a declared value of approximately J$250,000. Dawes alleged that the company responsible for importing the equipment is owned by a Government member.

“This is not about politics,” Dawes said. “This is about the blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars. What could have possessed someone to spend $31 million on a drill that landed in Jamaica for under $300,000?”

He questioned whether the drill now in use at Bustamante hospital is one of the two earlier-imported units and demanded transparency from the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) which facilitated the purchase. He also claimed that the procurement process was manipulated to eliminate cost-effective alternatives, leaving medical staff with no real choice.

Dawes pointed out that the chairman of SERHA, Wentworth Charles, has stubbornly defended the purchase, despite what he said was mounting evidence that the procurement was flawed. Dawes has previously called for Charles’ resignation.

The People’s National Party (PNP) spokesperson made the allegations against the background of what he claimed was systemic mismanagement by health authorities, citing repeated closures of operating theatres, shortage of ICU beds and life-threatening delays in diagnostics and surgery at several hospitals across the island as consequences.

“If this is not evil, I don’t know what is,” Dawes said. “This is a rapacious form of capitalism enabled by corruption, and it’s being paid for in the blood of our children.”

Dr Dawes presented two formal dossiers, one to the Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis, and the other to Integrity Commission chairperson, retired Justice Carol Lawrence-Beswick, requesting full investigations into the procurement process for the drill.

“The chips must fall where they may,” he said.