September timeline set for new $45m male ward at St James Infirmary
Published:Wednesday | July 14, 2021 | 12:05 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie says he is expecting that the new J$45-million male ward, which is being constructed at the St James Infirmary in Peace View, on the outskirts of Montego Bay, will be completed and ready for occupancy by September.
McKenzie made the projection last Friday during a tour of the infirmary. The facility was the first of several locations the minister and his team toured on his visit to St James last week. He also made stops at the Charles Gordon Market and several of the parish’s disaster shelters. The new male ward is expected to house some 45 persons.
“This project is one of the very first projects that we took responsibility for when we assumed government in 2016,” said McKenzie. “Hopefully, before the end of September, I will be back to officially open and hand over the new wing, and by that time I am hoping to make some further announcements as to some more improvements that will take place here at the St James Infirmary.”
In 2016, the St James Parish Council (now the St James Municipal Corporation), under then Mayor of Montego Bay Glendon Harris, broke ground for the construction of the ward and put up an initial $10 million towards the construction cost.
The ward was initially slated to be completed in 2020 at a total cost of more than $55 million. However, the timeline was shifted to January this year and the project’s estimated cost was lowered.
ONGOING SERVICE
According to McKenzie, the infirmary’s ongoing service to the people of St James is indicative of the service which is needed for the less fortunate members of the wider Jamaican society.
“This is one of our large facilities, and it is a facility that has gone through the test of time. The staff headed by the infirmary’s matron, as well as the municipal corporation, have ensured that the standards are maintained at a certain level, and that is important in delivering service to the less fortunate across the country,” said McKenzie.
Jacqueline Wilson, the matron of the St James Infirmary, said that the addition of the new ward would help to ease the workload of her staff in providing quality service to the residents.
“The completion of this new male ward is welcome, and it is one of the spaces that we cannot wait to occupy. This will serve to lessen the burden on my workers, of walking all the way to the top to the original male ward and back down here [to the main office],” Wilson explained.
State Minister in the local government ministry, Homer Davis, who was a part of the tour and was mayor of Montego Bay during much of the earlier construction phase of the project, said he was delighted that the project is now near completion.
“I am very happy and extremely pleased to be here to see the completion of this male ward. In fairness, it started with the mayor who I succeeded (Glendon Harris); they broke ground for it. When I came into office, I took up the ball and brought it to a certain state, and now Mayor Williams has seen fit to put more fuel towards it, and what we are seeing here today is to show you how caring this Government and the municipality is as it relates to our less fortunate,” said Davis.