Tobago's ambulances: the questions put to the TRHA before anyone went on air

The Tobago Regional Health Authority went to market in 2022 for twelve ambulances under Tender No PMT01-2022. The award, made in July 2023 to Biomedical Technologies Limited, was reported at a little over $5.5 million, for Isuzu vehicles specified for Tobago's hills. What arrived from October 2024 were Force Traveller vans.12

Before going on air about it, I wrote to the Authority's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Delmon Baker, and published the letter. The Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection, Dr Faith Brebnor, had told a plenary sitting of the Tobago House of Assembly that the TRHA proceeded with the purchase without Executive Council approval. That statement raised three questions, and I put them to Dr Baker directly.3

Were the contracts divided so that no single payment crossed the $1 million threshold above which Executive Council approval is required? Was there a competitive tender for the vehicles actually delivered, as distinct from those originally evaluated? And who approved the supplier?3

On air

This morning on the Tobago Updates Morning Show, Akinlabi Holder asked what I had found. Every procurement document I had seen, from the start of the process to its end, specified Isuzu vehicles. TRHA staff told me they had objected within the Authority, and that the original plan had been to buy in batches and test each before committing to the next. Staff also raised concerns about whether the vans, retrofitted with oxygen and medical equipment, were suited to Tobago's roads. The law on approval is not ambiguous: section 41(1)(c) of the Tobago House of Assembly Act requires Executive Council approval for expenditure above $1 million, and the TRHA is a statutory body created under the Regional Health Authorities Act, not a private company.4

What followed

Two days later, on 4 June, Newsday reported the letter and its questions. The Innovative Democratic Alliance called for the Integrity Commission and the Fraud Squad to investigate and for an audit of TRHA contracts back to 2021. The Minority Leader, Kelvon Morris, said the reported cost had passed $17 million, at $1.295 million a unit plus $244,000 each to retrofit, and that one of the new ambulances had failed to climb the John Dial hill on a patient transfer from Scarborough General Hospital.23

On 6 June Dr Baker responded at a media conference at Roxborough Hospital, describing the failures as “teething challenges” with engine management and fuel. The chairman, Chrislyn Moore, said the supplier was addressing the problems, the warranty had been extended and the Authority's “legal recourse is sound”. The TRHA said it had opened an internal investigation.5

In November 2025 the Office of Procurement Regulation agreed to a request from Mr Morris to investigate and appointed three officers. Mr Morris said that none of the twelve ambulances was then in service.6