 St. Lucia's legislators have sought approval from Parliament to authorize the Minister of Finance to guarantee a line of credit from First National Bank St. Lucia Limited to the Millennium Heights Medical Complex in the amount of EC $23 million to finance various operational expenses. Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Philip J. Pierre, during a lower house sitting on March 14th explained EC $11.4 million of the credit amount will be used to settle a debt accrued from a consultancy contract with Health City Cayman, a subsidiary of Narayana Health. Narayana Health is a private healthcare service provider based in India and currently operating in the Cayman Islands. And the good name of our country was under tremendous stress because it was being said that we will not meet in our commitments and we will not pay in our bills. So this government wanting to maintain the integrity of St. Lucia's good name, wanting to maintain the integrity of St. Lucia as a client that we can do business with, we've decided to give a lot of the Millennium Health facility to borrow the money and the government is guaranteeing it. So if there's any default in payment, the government will meet with the speaker. So it just shows you the responsible manner in which we approach government. Health City Cayman was awarded the consultancy contract in 2020 to oversee the transition of the Victoria Hospital to the Owen King EU Hospital. The terms of the contract obligated the government to pay Health City Cayman for a range of administrative services close to one million EC dollars per month for two years. Remember the mood of the country, remember the threat we faced during the pandemic. People could not eat, 15,000 hospitality workers laid off. Just think about it, let's go back, let's go back. Remember how everybody is in focus on fighting the virus? But in the middle of that, you signed a contract for 25 million dollars in the dead of night. What was the thinking going on in the cabinet, how do you sit in the cabinet? Well, I've since learned that it never went to the cabinet, didn't even know about it. The lower houses examination of Health City Cayman's contract with the government prompted appeals to strengthen St. Lucia's checks and balances. How is it that a country could have been held to ransom by a prime minister and a minister of finance to the extent that occurred in the last five years? What happened to the checks and balances that we created over the years that it could not stop that kind of abuse, that kind of recklessness in this country? The recklessness, Mr. Speaker, that will allow you to pay 22 million dollars to issue, among other things, press releases about what is taking place at the Owen King U hospital. Prime Minister Pierre has signaled to the House his administration's intention to allocate additional financial support to improve St. Lucia's public health infrastructure and also strengthen national security in the upcoming 2023-2024 budget. From the Office of the Prime Minister, Rihanny Isidou.