Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley questioned the PLP Government's track record regarding Hospital Insurance Premiums (HIP) on Friday night.

Mr. Dunkley spoke on the motion to adjourn in the House of Assembly regarding comments made the previous week by Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown. Dr. Brown had highlighted several of the positive changes Government has made to HIP, giving two examples in particular: an increase in yearly doctor visits covered by HIP from two to six, and an extension of HIP to cover lab and diagnostic testing outside the hospital.

Saying he had not questioned Dr. Brown at the time because he wanted to do the research first, Mr. Dunkley said what he suspected last week was true: those changes had not been made.

Only two doctors' visits per year were currently covered by HIP, he said, and lab and diagnostic testing outside the hospital was not covered at all.

"I am asking Government to clarify just what the honourable member was talking about," he said, noting that considering he was a member of the medical profession, Dr. Brown should know. Though Health Minister Nelson Bascome did rise to speak later in the motion to adjourn, he did not address Mr. Dunkley's comments. As Tourism Minister Renee Webb noted, Dr. Brown was not present in the House as he was getting married in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mr. Dunkley also questioned a $10 million contingency fund which Housing Minister Col. David Burch had recently announced would be used as emergency money. "When I read it in the newspaper I thought it had been a misprint," he said.

There was no explanation how the money was to be used or where it had come from, he said, adding it should have been raised in the House of Assembly.

Instead it had been "pulled out of a hat", he said, not even coming up during the Budget debate (when the full budget for the Ministry of Housing was set at around $6 million).