Senator Janice Allen has disclosed that it could be another two years before work is completed on the refurbishing of the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St. James, based on information sourced from the contractors on the project.
The senator made the announcement after expressing her disappointment with the multiple missed targets for the completion of renovation and refurbishing of the only Type A facility in Western Jamaica.
“I hear commitments being made now, a new commitment by the Minister of Health and even the Member of Parliament for West Central St. James,” she said during her State of the Nation Debate in Parliament on Friday, Nov. 11.
“In May of this year, when I visited the hospital site, I was told by the contractors that a fully completed hospital will not happen before December 2024,” shared the People’s National Party (PNP) senator, who is also the opposition spokesperson on Tourism.
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, announced recently that reoccupation of the main building at the hospital is expected to commence on a phased basis next year.
“From six months ago to now, I am a lot more confident in terms of the progress being made, and we do expect over the next year the phased reoccupation of that facility,” he said, during the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (MBCCI) MoBay Expo 2022, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall on November 4.
Operations at the hospital were halted in 2018 due to intermittent air quality issues, and $4 billion was budgeted to undertake rehabilitation work. The work was first slated to be completed by 2019, but several timelines have since been given and missed.
Allen expressed concern that there would be no facility capable of handling multiple injuries in the country’s flagship resort city if there is a major accident.