Document file · Compiled public record

The public record on the TRHA ambulance procurement

Trinidad and Tobago Newsday · Tobago House of Assembly · Office of Procurement Regulation

A compiled record of the published reporting and public statements on the Tobago Regional Health Authority's purchase of twelve ambulances under Tender No PMT01-2022, from the contract award in July 2023 to the Procurement Regulator's investigation in November 2025.

Document of record · Newsday, 11 November 2025

Compiled 23 September 2026

Key extracts & findings

Record 1

The award: Tender PMT01-2022, July 2023

In July 2023 the TRHA awarded a contract for the supply and delivery of twelve ambulances under Tender No PMT01-2022 to Biomedical Technologies Limited for over $5,535,000. The specification was reported to be Isuzu vehicles suited to Tobago's terrain. The first batch was not delivered until October 2024. The final cost rose to over $16 million, and more than $17 million with delivery and associated costs. (Newsday, 4 June 2025; THA Minority Leader Kelvon Morris, news conference, 3 June 2025.)

Record 2

Force Traveller vans delivered; per-unit cost

Morris stated that Force Traveller vehicles were delivered in place of the approved Isuzu model, at a charge of $1.295 million per unit plus $244,000 each for retrofitting, against an online retail price of about $232,000. One new ambulance failed to climb the John Dial hill during a patient transfer from Scarborough General Hospital to Roxborough Hospital. (Newsday, 4 June 2025.)

Record 3

Pearce Robinson's letter to the TRHA CEO

Pearce Robinson wrote to TRHA CEO Dr Delmon Baker and published the letter on Facebook, citing Health Secretary Dr Faith Brebnor's statement to a plenary sitting of the Assembly that the TRHA proceeded without Executive Council approval. He asked whether contracts were split to avoid the $1 million oversight threshold, whether a competitive tender took place, and who approved the supplier. The IDA's call for an Integrity Commission and Fraud Squad probe followed days later. (Newsday, 4 June 2025.)

Record 4

The TRHA's public response, 6 June 2025

At a media conference at Roxborough Hospital on 6 June 2025, Dr Baker described the failures as 'teething challenges' related to the vehicles' engine management and fuel. TRHA chairman Chrislyn Moore said the supplier was working to resolve the issues, that the warranty had been extended beyond three years, and that the Authority's 'legal recourse is sound'. The TRHA also confirmed it had launched an internal investigation into the procurement. (Newsday.)

Record 5

Procurement Regulator opens investigation, November 2025

The Office of Procurement Regulation acceded to a request from Kelvon Morris to investigate alleged irregularities in the procurement, appointing three officers. Morris said on 10 November 2025 that none of the twelve ambulances, each costing about $1.5 million, was operational. (Newsday, 11 November 2025.)

Extracts are summarised from the document of record, which is linked above. Where a passage is disputed, this newsroom will publish the correction alongside the extract.