Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Tories call for investigation into WRHA tendering

Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen is asking for the Legislative Public Accounts Committee and the provincial auditor to investigate immediately the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s tendering practices.

Last weekend, a Free Press investigation revealed that WRHA senior officials have accepted more than $20 million in money, equipment and other gifts from medical suppliers since 2000 – including money handed over in brown envelopes from suppliers who won contract bids.

WRHA CEO Dr. Brian Postl told the Free Press the policy is meant to crackdown on relationships between physicians and medical suppliers. Postl said any extras offered by medical suppliers during a bid competition is put in a brown envelope so it doesn’t influence who gets the contract.

Health officials would not provide a detailed breakdown of how the money was spent, and told the Free Press to file a Freedom of Information request for that information.

McFadyen is calling on Health Minister Theresa Oswald to explain the "brown envelope scheme."



 

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