Sole shareholder, Jacob Rambarran, of the Ocean View Hotel which was converted by the previous APNU+AFC Administration into an infectious diseases hospital, says that Government owes some $65M in rent which it never paid for use of the property.
He has since said through his attorneys of the Satram & Satram law firm that if he does not receive payment of all arrears of rent within the next 14 days, he will terminate the tenancy and take steps to repossess the property.
This is likely to be a debt which would be inherited by the new Dr. Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government which was sworn into office on Sunday.
Under the APNU +AFC administration, Rambarran had kept silent about the financial arrangements for the building which is now the centre of major controversy over its $1.6b cost and the fact that it remains unfurnished and may not have been properly constructed to fit its purpose.
The breaking of Rambarran’s silence yesterday will raise eyebrows.
Copies of Rambarran’s letter dated yesterday have been dispatched to new Attorney General and Minister of Public Health Anil Nandlall and Dr. Frank Anthony respectively, as well the Permanent Secretary of the health ministry.
Since he assumed office, Dr. Anthony has criticized the facility calling it a “shell” on which he said major work still needs to be done.
On July 30th, then caretaker President David Granger of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), commissioned the $1.6B facility which has been the source of major controversy in recent months.
According to Rambarran in his letter seen by this newspaper, he was approached in early April by representatives of the Ministry of Public Health who requested the lease of the property for the purpose of establishing a facility to treat COVID-19 patients.
The man’s attorneys said that the then government told him that it urgently needed a facility to accommodate the expected increase in the number of COVID-19 patients as estimated by the Pan-American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO).
The letter details that a number of government officials including doctors, engineers, officers of the Guyana Defence Force, staff of the health ministry and members of the COVID Task Force visited the hotel following which a tenancy agreement was reached.
Rambarran detailed that the agreement was made with the Ministry of Public Health which was then let into possession for a period of one year, at a monthly rental of $13M.
Anticipate
According to him, the government did not anticipate that it would need the property beyond a year.
The attorneys note in the letter that their client was informed by the Permanent Secretary to submit a draft written tenancy agreement, containing the terms agreed upon, to be executed by the government.
They said that members of the COVID Task Force comprising several government ministers were aware of the basic terms of the lease.
According to the lawyers, the draft lease in writing was submitted to the Ministry of the Presidency but was never executed “and no rent whatsoever was paid to our client for the use of the hotel.”
One of Rambarran’s attorneys, C.V. Satram, said in the letter that the government later purported to issue a notice of compulsory acquisition of the property but never engaged their client in negotiations for its purchase.
Ineffectual
According to Satram, the notice is “unconstitutional and ineffectual in law,” while noting that compensation has not been assessed or paid to his client and that the hotel remains the property of the Ocean View Hotel Ltd company which continues to be entitled to its use and enjoyment as guaranteed in Article 142 of the Constitution.
According to the letter, the hotel, excluding its contents was assessed in October 2018 and valued at $2,751,200,000 which is equivalent to US$13,100,950.
The lawyers said that at the time of the purported notice of acquisition, their client had received offers exceeding US$15M.
In the circumstances, they said that Rambarran is demanding the payment of all arrears due within 14 days—beginning from yesterday, failing which he will terminate the tenancy and take steps to recover possession of the property.
The lawyers have said that Rambarran will continue to regard the purported notice of acquisition as having no effect even as they reminded that Article 142 safeguards the right to possession of property.
The facility located at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, was the site of the former Ocean View Hotel which the government had earmarked in April to be transformed into a COVID-19 hospital and later serve as an infectious diseases centre.
At the commissioning ceremony, Granger had remarked that the establishment of the facility is part of the government’s national response to the COVID-19 pandemic while adding that “this institution is strategic. It will be used primarily for COVID-19 patients but, eventually, will become a fully-specialised communicable disease hospital. It is an important step forward towards protecting our people from epidemic disease.”
This newspaper had not been invited to the opening ceremony of the infectious diseases hospital. When it did visit the facility, however, officials from the Ministry of Public Health who were still on site following the opening ceremony gave Stabroek News a tour of the facility.
It was observed that it was not yet fully equipped to house patients. However, one official explained that in order to facilitate the tour for those who were present earlier, a decision was made not to place all the beds and other equipment in the hospital.
The hospital is equipped with a transition facility for patients, quarantine and isolation sections, and an intensive care unit. It also boasts an operating theatre for those patients who may need emergency surgery. On the walk-through it was also observed that there was a special section designated for dialysis treatment. The official explained that it is necessary to have that kind of equipment available in the facility for patients who may be in need of it.
A decontamination unit is also present to ensure the safety of health workers when they enter the facility. Also strategically placed around the infectious diseases hospital were ultraviolet lights which are capable of neutralising pathogens and the virus. Hospital staff will be able to monitor patients with the use of CCTV cameras.
Following his swearing in on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony who called the facility a shell said that the infectious diseases hospital is not ready to house COVID-19 patients, as there is no staffing structure, no equipment, and if the facility is to be utilised, more renovations need to be done.
Staffing structure
“The former president (Granger) launched this hospital, there is no staffing structure in place… the doctors who would be working there, none of them have been told, they don’t know where they’re coming from. At a minimum you will need about 20 doctors to be there, the technicians, none of that is there,” he said.
Dr Anthony went on to say, “In terms of medical equipment, you will need things like ventilators, none of that is there, so basically as I said, we have a shell and if we are going to be able to utilise that we have to be able to do some more renovations.” According to the minister, things like oxygen and centralised suction along with the procurement of equipment like beds, ventilators and much more are needed to make the hospital ready for the intake of COVID-19 patients.
Currently, he said, an assessment is being done and he would have to go over the assessment and ensure that whatever is there is accurate and he will further advise President Irfaan Ali on the way forward.
“As it is now, if there are (severely ill) patients they will still have to go to the Georgetown Public Hospital COVID unit and until we get these things in place, we can’t place anybody there” the minister said. He mentioned that a technical team will have to assess the air circulation in the building as airflow within the rooms of hospitals of that type need to be limited so as to ensure that cross-contamination does not take place.
Stabroek News had previously reported that it was not made clear or announced when the facility will be fully operational and begin permanent intake of patients, however, some time back it was disclosed that a number of persons were already quarantined at the facility.
The opaque arrangements for the hospital have already attracted the interest of the Office of Auditor General and while in opposition the PPP/C had said it will be investigated.
