Opposition MPs raised concerns in Parliament yesterday about whether senior staff at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital are benefiting from a revenue-raising health partnership scheme.But Health Minister Zane DeSilva refuted the claim and Bermuda Hospitals Board last night insisted that Healthcare Partners Limited (HPL) “does not benefit any BHB individuals”.Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson raised the issue during debate in the House of Assembly on Government’s proposed National Health Plan.She said she wanted to talk about a company called HPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHB, adding: “We are talking here now about huge salaries and huge conflicts of interest which occurs.”She suggested BHB’s chief of staff, Donald Thomas, and others at KEMH, could be personally profiting from money raised by the holding company.Referring to Dr Thomas, she said: “He has one revenue stream, which is his salary. He works three days a week. He’s also the one who has a pretty good bonus.”Mrs Jackson said HPL used hospital money to buy up smaller medical businesses and generate revenue. She claimed it created an “autocratic monopoly” to “basically kill competition”.The UBP politician claimed many small companies had been bought in this way but added: “I want to tell you that one radiology business was exempted. I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure out which one that was.”Party colleague Grant Gibbons later returned to the issue, asking: “Is the chief of staff, Dr Thomas, is he paid fees or is he paid bonuses or any derivatives coming out of this company? If he is, it’s a huge conflict of interest.”Mr DeSilva rose to his feet and told the House: “Let me assure him that that is not the case.”A BHB spokeswoman later told The Royal Gazette: “HPL is quite simply an independent arm of the BHB that was set up to go into business with private partners, such as physicians, and support the provision of services in the community.“While it will, over the long run, bring in some additional revenue to BHB for the services it provides, it does not benefit any BHB individuals.“It actually supports small businesses by partnering and helping them benefit from the economies of scale of some of BHB’s support services. To date, HPL has only partnered with one external business, so it is in no way monopolising services.”The board’s financial statements, released in March 2010, say HPL was created to “provide a vehicle for the board to participate in partnerships and/or joint venture businesses, provided BHB remain in control at the governance level and hold a minimum of 51 percent equity position”.It goes on: “Engaging in joint ventures, particularly with physician partners, is a recognised best practice in North America. In Bermuda, the objective is for HPL to close gaps and increase efficiencies in the health care market that would otherwise exist when the public and private sector act in isolation.“HPL issued 10,000 common voting shares with a par value of $1 per share to the BHB on October 23, 2008.”