House of Assembly on Friday night, after certain errors had occurred.

Although the one-percent increase in hospital levy had been discussed last year, it failed to be made into law.

"There was no formal validation of the bill. The idea today is to validate the actions of a year ago so we can make everything correct and legal.'' Dr. Saul added that the error was not unique and it was not caught until a year later.

He also said that the majority of people had paid the one percent increase at the end of the financial year, with the exception of a few.

Shadow Minister of Finance Mr. Eugene Cox said his party supported the bill, although the amount of recently discovered errors in pieces of legislation concerned him.

"We are the legislators,'' he said. "We should be setting a higher standard.'' Mr. Cox said there needed to be a checklist to prevent these errors from occurring and that full use must be made of the latest technology.

Dr. Saul said that in future he would take the time to go through all legislation before he brought it before the House. The bill was then passed.