Minister – “But there was no approved project in August last year”
Minister of Health, Delmaude_Ryan
by Bennette Roach
The issue of the construction of the establishment of a new hospital in Montserrat was among the featured discussions last week to the exasperation of residents in Montserrat. They were overshadowed by dramatic events towards the end of the week, none of which had anything, we say hesitatingly with the exasperation people feel about activities to improve the economic woes and jobs for those badly in need of them.
The new build hospital was addressed during the Health Minister Hon Delmaude Ryan’s presentation on her stewardship of her first year in government as Minister of a Ministry she says some feel should be split.
At the joint and first press conference of Governor Carrier and Premier Romeo with DFID’s Martin Dawson, the Premier knowing this (the hospital issue) to be a recurring topic addressed the matter, said that A new hospital for Montserrat has been agreed in principle with DFID but the relevant business cases are yet to be finalised.
Premier Romeo and DFID’s Martin Dawson at press conf.
The Premier said: “This is no question about new build that will take place and that we’re working towards it. Montserrat expects to have a hospital built over the next few years starting certainly within the next year or two, so there’s no question about that so let’s dispel what’s happening in the air out there.”
Martin Dawson supported by speaking to the time frame and the process involved and saying that he expected ground break in about six to nine months. “The way the time frame we’re working to at the moment is panning out is that we were aiming to do the consultancies for the health financing and also the functional review over the next six months,” he said.
He adds, “they’re quite substantial pieces of work, so that would take us into the early spring maybe of the next financial year and we then finish off the business case which I anticipate and hope and were aiming to do in July or August of next financial year and then we go straight to tender for the new hospital – I would expect ground breaking to be some six to nine months after that period.”
In the mix of those processes is the location for the new hospital which the Premier mentioned as being one of the hurdles that had to be overcome. There are murmurs and whispers that Little Bay is a popular location for the project, while pundits believe that would be a bad idea for several reasons, when considering the many plans for the area in the growth development plan of many years and the climate change threat, among others.
Glendon Hospital – adapted from St. John’s Primary School
No finalized hospital project as of September 2014
Meanwhile, during her reflections on her time in office Minister Ryan thought it fit, still to be convincing some that the hospital project, which already prior to 2009 had some consideration of approval by DFID, was not a final one when she assumed office in September 2014. That hospital issue saw the former Premier (then Chief Minister) advising the new Minister of Health then that there was no need for further deliberations as the plans had already been on the way.
Responding to speculations and statements by the previous R T Meade government, the Minister said she met a Healthcare Improvement Project and not an approved or new hospital project when she took office last year.
“I met a Health Care Improvement Project and that project comprised various areas that looked at the entire health system., in addition to those areas was the refurbishment of the hospital, there was given a design which did not have any approval…business plan…
The project was for $34.53 million; funding was included for those areas such as health financing interventions, non-communicable diseases Interventions, interventions in terms of the elderly care and the functional review of the hospital,” she explained:
The health minister noted that a design was presented in August last year for the infrastructural development of the hospital for $60 million, but she said there was no way a brand new hospital could have been built for a number of reasons. She explains further what she met and state of the plan being made mentioning that .
”The Infrastructure side of the hospital which is the existing old St. John’s building only had a portion – a design was presented in August prior to my arrival for a hospital that valued $60 million,” she said continuing. “Given the maths, there is no way that we could have built a brand new hospital. One we were not given approval; two – it was never covered under the project business case and the memorandums in place; three – we did not have the money to build.”
The Minister pointed out finally that there were several issues as the project did not meet required standards and procedures. “In addition to that the project was failing as all of the components under it must be performing at a certain level in order for the continuation of the project now under the DFID regulations,” she explained.
“Once a project scores B or C consecutively it goes into a six-month-pick that’s a project improvement plan,” she concluded.
DFID Representative Martin Dawson told the press it is expected that within the next 12 months we will see the completion of a health financing and health function review which are key elements of the hospital project. The project would then need to go through the design and tender process.
