VG still awaiting promised medical boat
"I am happy to report that repairs have been completed on the motor Vessel Vigilant II, which will be used for emergency medical transfers from Virgin Gorda to Tortola. The vessel required more extensive repairs than we realised when it was first handed over to us, and the repair work took a lot longer than expected. The boat is now seaworthy, and we are making final arrangements to hire a captain and crew to operate it in partnership with the Fire and Rescue Services Department," stated Minister for Health and Social Development Honourable Ronnie W. Skelton during the Ground Breaking and Contract Signing Ceremony for the construction of the Nurse Iris O’Neal Medical Centre on Virgin Gorda on Monday March 30, 2015.
Government said the boat repairs have cost some $40, 000.
This spurred an utterance in the audience, "When they started was forty thousand dollars, just now you'll hear it cost $400,000. They are taking people for fools up in here."
Medical boat long in coming
The promised medical boat has a history that goes back to the NDP’s entrance into office following the 2011 general elections. The NDP government had purchased the boat to service the medical needs of Virgin Gorda.
"It's now the eve of another election and a simple thing as a boat they only now telling us it is ready. NDP need to stop playing politics with people's life and health especially," another person remarked.
Several stories were carried by this news site where promises were made not only by the Health Minister but also senior officials of the BVI Health Services Authority.
Chairman of the BVI Health Services Authority Bishop John I. Cline had promised in August 2012, a timeframe of three to six months for the boat to be ready for use. Back then he had indicated that there was a need for repairs to the Caterpillar engine of the boat that would come at the tune of $40,000. Residents were also disturbed at this revelation, asking whether it wouldn’t have been practical to get a new boat instead.
When asked in September 2012 if the engine had already been replaced or repaired, Chairman Cline said “that concern was in the process of being addressed. When I was speaking of it I wasn’t speaking of something that was going to come, I was speaking of something that was happening.”
Health Minister blasted
Back in June of 2013 this news site had carried a story where Minister Skelton was blasted by a caller to the Speak Your Mind radio talk show as he was accused of not being equipped with the relevant information as it related to the very vessel in that story this news site had reported.
The man also alleged that the Minister came to the residents of the Ninth District (back in 2013) with the same presentation that he had made in the House of Assembly and suggested that this should not have been the case.
During the meeting, Hon Skelton had reported, "You may recall we had made a decision earlier this year to repair motor vessel Vigilant 2 to provide medical evacuation services by sea from Virgin Gorda to Peebles Hospital on Tortola. I am pleased and happy to report again that the new engine has been installed. The boat has been cleaned and final tests and inspections are being carried out.”
The lurking question that hovers over this boat that took so long to repair is how long it would now take to get a captain to have the boat in use.
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