ST. LUCIA – All seems to be in order for the construction of Saint Lucia’s general hospital. A sod- turning ceremony to symbolize the commencement of construction was held on Monday March 9, in the vicinity of the Millennium Highway, where the hospital will be constructed.
The new general hospital has been estimated at Thirty-Eight Million Euros, making it the highest funded project of the European Union in the region to date. Prime Minister Hon. Stephenson King acknowledged the commitment of the European Commission to the island’s health sector.
“Let me assure you that as we commence construction, every effort will be put in place to ensure the necessary structures and systems that will assure the efficient administration of construction, and the timely delivery of the project to the people of Saint Lucia,” said Prime Minister King in his feature address.
The prime minister said he is also pleased with the programs being embarked upon by the island’s Ministry of Health, to strengthen the existing health services. Health Minister, Honourable Dr. Keith Mondesir, is confident that everything is being done to provide optimal health services to the citizens of Saint Lucia.
“I want to tell the people of St. Lucia that they will receive a modern complex, a complex deserving of Saint Lucians, a complex that will treat our health conditions, and a complex in which we will install professionals, in whom the people of Saint Lucia could have confidence,” Dr. Mondesir added.
Head of Delegation of the European Commission for the Eastern Caribbean, Ambassador Valeriano Diaz wants to see the construction of the hospital fast tracked, so that citizens could benefit from the services that this modern health facility is designed to provide, both in terms of its architecture and state of the art equipment. Ambassador Diaz also commended Saint Lucia on its position, on the United Nations Human Development Index, ranking 72 out of 177 countries.
The decision to construct the hospital, which will eventually replace the over one century-old Victoria Hospital, according to the island’s Chief Health Planner, Xysta Edmund, is informed by a renewed commitment to the Primary Health Care Development Strategy and the four categories of reform, which are outlined in the National Strategic Plan for Health.
“They are Universal Coverage Reform, to increase access; the Service Delivery Reform, to ensure our services are people centred; the Leadership Reform, to increase management and increase accountability of our managers and also of the health service to deliver; and Public Policy Reforms that require us to promote, develop and protect our communities as we move towards changes,” Edmund explained.
The European Commission funding for the hospital is exclusively for the construction of the physical plant. As a result Prime Minister Stephenson king announced the immediate commencement of the process to acquire the necessary funding to equip the facility.
The new general hospital is expected to be completed within the next three years by the international construction company INSO.
