The Opposition delivered a sharp response to the delayed release of the Bermuda Hospitals Board 2011 Annual Report.Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley commended hospital improvements and said Health Minister Zane DeSilva’s apology for the delay was appreciated.However, Senator Dunkley added: “[W]e reject placing the blame on the Auditor General’s office.”Mr DeSilva on Wednesday attributed the lag to a longer than anticipated auditing process.Sen Dunkley responded: “Members of Parliament were told in April that the document was being printed, and the Minister has not explained why it would take six further months to release the information to the public.”“We have said before that timely information is essential for the best understanding of hospital operations, which have serious implications for the quality of Bermudians’ healthcare and how much it costs.”The BHB, he added, received “$142.5 million in Government funding this year”, with 43 percent of the Island’s total healthcare costs going to the hospitals.Sen Dunkley, who has repeatedly taken the BHB to task for rising spending, continued to press the matter of salaries.“Minister DeSilva says the BHB saved $4 million by cutting consultants’ costs and one senior management position,” he said.“These kinds of efficiencies are to be welcomed, although the financial statements don’t indicate where these cuts were made. In fact, the financial statements indicate a drop in ‘consulting and business expenses’ of only $33,605.“Minister DeSilva says the BHB is focused on ‘controlling costs and maximising its efficiency’. Yet salaries and benefits for 2011 showed a 12 percent, or $18.4 million, increase over the previous year. Has the hospital staff increased significantly? Were annual salary increases particularly generous during a severe recession? The financial statements do not provide the answers to these questions, but we believe the public deserves to know.”The One Bermuda Alliance has insisted that wages should be revealed, by law.Mr DeSilva, in turn, has said that accounts are reported just as they always have been, and that wages are given as a lump sum.Sen Dunkley said: “We also believe that the public, by law, should know the salaries of senior management at the hospital, especially now that the suspended chief of staff, Dr Thomas, continues to be paid while under investigation.“The Bermuda Hospitals Act requires the BHB annual report to set out ‘the scales of salaries and wages paid to officers and servants of the board’. The fact that Minister DeSilva says this has not been done in the past is immaterial; it is the law, and by refusing to disclose the information, the Minister shows that he gives only lip service to transparency and has no problem ignoring this law.“Finally, Health Partners Limited (HPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the BHB established through legislation in 2008 enabling the BHB to enter medical partnerships with local healthcare providers, showed a loss in 2011 of over $700,000. Since the intent of HPL was to create additional revenue for the hospitals, we ask Minister DeSilva to explain the loss and indicate if HPL will continue to aggressively invest in local healthcare services.”