Guy wants quarterly updates on CRH’s restoration
Published:Friday | October 27, 2023 | 12:11 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
DR MORAIS Guy, the opposition spokesman on health, is recommending that the Ministry of Health and Wellness hold quarterly briefings to keep the public updated on the progression of restoration work at the St James-based Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), which is slated for completion in 2025.
Guy made the call on Wednesday while touring the ongoing work at the CRH and the neighbouring Western Children and Adolescent Hospital, both located in Mt Salem.
“The CRH is very near and dear to the people of western Jamaica, and you can appreciate that they are very concerned about what is happening here. It is one of those edifices in this town which they look up to, literally and figuratively, and they are concerned about what is happening and what is not happening,” Guy told journalists during the tour.
“Probably one of the things that would allay some of those concerns and anxieties to the people of Montego Bay is that there are quarterly briefings that are given to the stakeholders, including John Public, so they will have an idea what to expect, what not to be complaining about, and that there is no deficit of information that reaches the public. It is something that I would commend [Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton] and his team to have that done,” Guy added.
There has been much criticism over the years concerning the projected completion time for the restoration of the CRH, which was built in 1974 and is the only Type A hospital in western Jamaica. The concerns have not abated despite assurances given at a town hall meeting in Montego Bay in March this year that the CRH’s reoccupation would take place in stages.
The hospital’s building has been undergoing a lengthy rehabilitation process since February 2017, when noxious fumes from the facility’s ventilation system forced the evacuation of services from its first three floors.
That incident followed a similar complaint of noxious fumes five months earlier, which had previously resulted in the CRH’s accident and emergency ward being evacuated.
Since 2017, there have been approximately nine timelines for the completion of the rehabilitation work, with March 2025 being the most recent projected timeline to be given by the health ministry.
Additionally, the projected cost for the rehabilitation work has shifted multiple times since March 2018, from $2 billion to $14.5 billion.
Regarding the latest cost increase, which is up from the $14.1 billion, which was projected in March this year, Guy said he has been told that the additional expense is to cover the cost of new equipment to be brought into the CRH.
“We are told that the cost has gone to $14.5 billion, and possibly counting, and the explanation for that is that the $14.5 billion will include all the brand-new equipment that the hospital will need,” Guy said.
“Some of the concerns we have about that, and I hope the assurances we have been given are effected, is that we are concerned about the standardisation of the equipment that is going to be here, that we do not have a problem where we’re going to have equipment that will not be functioning after a period of time and then we as a country have difficulty in getting spare parts for the equipment,” he expressed.
At present, the construction work to be done at the CRH is being overseen by contractor ZDA Construction Limited, taking over from the M&M Jamaica engineering firm following the expiration of the latter company’s $1.6 billion contract.