Work on Western Children’s Hospital to Begin by May
Health Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says construction of the 220-bed Western Children Adolescent Hospital in Montego Bay, St. James, will commence by May 2019.
The state-of-the-art facility will be built on the compound of the Cornwall Regional Hospital in St. James.
Dr. Tufton said that the contractor for the project has been selected and is “mobilising to set up their accommodations here on the compound. The contractor was selected by the Chinese. They are here in the island, and we are making provisions for them to set up, so that construction can begin in another month or two”.
Materials for the project have started arriving on the grounds of the hospital.
Dr. Tufton was speaking to journalists following a tour of Cornwall Regional on March 2.
The Government of China has provided approximately US$36.16 million in funding to the Jamaican Government under an Economic and Technical Cooperation agreement to construct the Western Children Adolescent Hospital.
In November 2017, Dr. Tufton signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to help with the Health Ministry’s plans for the facility.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister informed that the recently constructed Diagnostic Unit at Cornwall Regional will be commissioned into service within a month.
He said that the facility is now being outfitted with the necessary equipment and infrastructure for operation.
Dr. Tufton said that the unit will “allow us now to do the appropriate level of diagnostics, computerised tomography (CT) scans and X-rays… on the (hospital) compound as opposed to outsourcing”.
source: www.jis.gov.jm
