No system, no accountability at UHWI car park

ACTING CEO of the University Hospital of the West Indies, Eric Hosin, on Tuesday acknowledged that the facility has been operating its newly built car park without a proper system to account for payments.

This prompted chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee Julian Robinson to say the situation “beggars belief” as legislators continued their examination of the auditor general’s report into procurement and governance practices at the hospital.

The car park was officially opened in March 2025 in what Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton described as the first major milestone under phase 1 of the UHWI’s Redevelopment and Modernisation Project.

Since then there have been several complaints about the cost to use the facility, with parking fees of between $250 for one hour and $1,000 for an entire day.

But with not many more parking options at the facility, visitors are forced to use the paid parking area which is close to full most weekdays.

On Tuesday members of the PAC turned their attention to how revenue from the parking facility is collected and managed.

Pressed on the issue, Hosin explained that motorists are issued tickets upon entry and charged based on the length of time spent in the facility, with the funds then absorbed into the hospital’s general revenue stream.

However, when questioned about who collects the payments, he confirmed that the responsibility currently rests with security personnel.

“Currently, the security guard collects the funds. We are in the process of establishing a payment area where a UHWI staff member will be the one to collect all monies from the car park,” Hosin said, adding that the new system is expected to be in place by May.

The revelation prompted further probing from Robinson, who questioned how the hospital verifies whether all payments due are actually collected and accounted for.

Hosin admitted that the existing system lacks the necessary safeguards, indicating that efforts are now under way to strengthen oversight.

“We are auditing, [but] the fact is that there is a serious concern as to how strong and robust that system is, and that is why we are changing with haste to have the funds collected by our normal receipting system that we have at various points in the hospital,” he said.

Robinson, however, was not convinced, warning that the absence of a structured system creates significant risks around accountability and revenue leakage.

“I mean, using diplomatic language, but if you are depending on security personnel to collect, it raises questions about whether you are collecting the full amount that you should be collecting and whether on a daily basis there is reconciliation to determine that 100 cars use the car park and as such for X amount of hours and as such what is due to the university hospital is X amount. It sounds to me like that system doesn’t exist and you’re now moving to put that in place,” Robinson expressed.

He argued that the lack of accountability with the money from the car park reflects deeper systemic problems within the UHWI’s operations.

“I was going to say patty shop, but I don’t want to disrespect people who operate and do so very well locally and internationally. But I must confess, I mean, it beggars belief that in this day and age we couldn’t have a better system just to manage something like this. It is just symptomatic of the broader problems at the university that you could have a car park without a proper system and you have no way of determining whether you are collecting the full amount, the full amount of money that you should be collecting,” Robinson expressed in disbelief.

ROBINSON…the lack of accountability with the money from the car park reflects deeper, systemic problems within the UHWI’s operations