El Caribe continues to campaign against the government’s signing of a questionable turn-key offer to build 10 hospitals by a little known US company. The newspaper says the beds would cost RD$1.6 million each, since a RD$818 million loan would be needed to build the proposed 500 beds for the 10 hospitals. The newspaper says that in the end, the state will have to pay US$50 million in interest, when it will only receive US$20 million. It complains that the authorities will have to underwrite a letter of credit for US$29.6 million. The so-called loan for the hospitals was rushed through the Senate, passing on 24 April, after only 40 days in the Senate. It obliges the government to deliver a letter of credit for 60% of the total, or US$29.6 million, to Jamco Medical as the lender, promoter of the loans and builder of the 10 hospitals. The contract was signed by Minister of Public Works Miguel Vargas Maldonado, who refused to comment on the deal. The newspaper says Minister of Public Health Jose Rodriguez Soldevilla also declined to comment, saying that his role was only to determine where the demand for the hospitals was, and that the contract came from the National Palace. The hospitals would be built in Santiago Rodriguez, San Cristobal, Gurabo (Santiago), Km. 9.5 Carretera Sanchez (Santo Domingo), Neyba-Galvan, Sabana de la Mar (Hato Mayor), Guaymate (La Romana) y Bohechio (Independencia). The Dominican government has committed to cover all the expenses of the lender, be they legal, pocket expenses or taxes and to exempt the company from all taxes on construction materials, equipment and supplies. The state will also provide the land where the hospitals will be built. The contract passed by the Senate does not permit the government to rescind. El Caribe says two principal executives of the project have contradicted themselves on several occasions. For example, Jean Aimee Medici, president of Jamco, said the hospitals would be built in 120 days after the prefabricated materials arrived in the country. Hector Evertz, president of the building company, said the construction would take 220 days.
