The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor Emil Lee said during Wednesdays Press Conference, that he welcomes discussions and debates about the new hospital, as this is all part of government being “open”.
He stated that the discussions would allow people to be knowledgeable about the project, which also means that the people would get the right hospital for the right price.
“When there were negotiations with another company prior to us coming in Government, there were no discussions about what was in the terms of reference or what was in the business plan. It’s only because we are open, and have taken the time to document everything, that there is a possibility of having a discussion, and so, I welcome it because I have nothing to hide” said the Minister.
In regards to some of the comments that have been made in various news articles, the Minister finds it “distasteful and degrading”. .
A point that has been discussed in the article was that the new hospital doesn’t have a dialysis center. Minister Lee said that the current hospital has a dialysis center, which is the most profitable Department of the Hospital. “ Do you really believe that we would design the new hospital without including a dialysis center? Absolutely not. The fact is that the current dialysis center does not satisfy the needs of the population now, and we cannot wait 3 years for the hospital to be completed in order to address the needs of the population today” said the Minister.
“The idea is to build the dialysis department as a separate venture immediately, without waiting for the completion of the new hospital. Therefore, when the contractors were asked to make a proposal to the new hospital, it did not include the dialysis center because it needed to be addressed earlier” stated the Minister.
The Minister also said that in order to be as flexible as possible, SZV has proposed in the business plan to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV). In case government has to take over the project, it could easily take over the shares of the SPV from SZV and automatically take over the design, build, maintain contract, and loan agreements with SZV.
‘If SZV buys the hospital, SZV has to pay a transfer tax. Our hope, the best thing for the country is that we can get financing for the hospital via the Dutch Government. It has low interest rates, and it’s over a much longer period of time. Our estimates are that it would save us millions of dollars a year in operational costs for the hospital”. The Minister says that one of the conditions for having the hospital financed by the Dutch Government, is that the government would have to own the Hospital. Instead of paying transfer tax again, the company would be transferred to the government thereby avoiding double taxation on transfer tax.
“This is normal business practice, nothing sinister. My family doesn’t have shares in any company that’s going to own the hospital. I have no interest in the business of the hospital. There is no conflict of interest. I’m not building the hospital, and my wife isn’t building the hospital either. People need to stop the nonsense, and understand that if they make unfounded allegations, it’s really distasteful” said Minister Lee.