YOU will have read the word “transparency” in this column on a number of occasions – usually as we search for it only to find a world far too opaque.

The Public Hospitals Authority takes that to new lows in today’s Tribune.

In response to FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands stating that the country has just two working ambulances, the PHA has the audacity to talk about “the importance of transparency” while delivering precisely no such thing.

Have a close read of the following: “The PHA acknowledges the public’s concern and recognises the importance of transparency regarding the state of our emergency medical services. To that end, the PHA is in the process of developing a detailed and thoughtful communication that will address these matters more thoroughly. Once finalised, this information will be shared with the public and the media.”

Consider the information it is being asked to verify – how many working ambulances there are.

The claim is that there are just two. It cannot take very long at all to check if two ambulances are working. Once done, check if a third is working. There, job done. You now know whether it is accurate or not. How long can it take to check three ambulances?

Of course, as has been noted in this column previously, any half-competent fleet manager will know the state of operation of all vehicles under their care at any time.

Such a fleet manager will have details quickly to hand for what vehicles are fully functional – bar any immediate incident in any given day – and which ones are undergoing repair or maintenance. That person will have a schedule to hand of when maintenance is due and so on. This genuinely is not rocket science.

So when the authority is asked to respond to whether or not just two ambulances are functional and the reply is well, wait, we’ll come back to you later, but we’re totally being transparent, then our response is skepticism in the extreme.

How many ambulances are working now? Today. Not at some point in the future when you come up with an answer that sounds good. Today.

Meanwhile, we also agree with Dr Kenville Lockhart, vice president of the Bahamas Doctors Union, that operational readiness is about more than buying vehicles – it is about staff training, planning, infrastructure and more. The same holds true with firefighting equipment, police equipment and so on.

You have to have the right personnel with the right access to the right equipment, and it needs to be functioning properly. That is the business of good management.

We seem to have fallen into a situation where we do not have enough staff – witness police officers who are going to double up as ambulance drivers, where we do not have enough vehicles – witness the announcement that more will be bought, and where we reportedly have ambulances that staff are not trained to drive and which some claim are too small for the purpose required.

All of these things can be remedied, with the right plan, and, frankly, with a willingness to be honest about what is needed.

Let us recognise the problems that need to be remedied, and then proceed to do so.

Some more of that transparency could go a long way.