MBCCI president: ‘We’ll monitor the CRH restoration closely’

WESTERN BUREAU:

Oral Heaven, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), has vowed that his organisation’s newly formed Cornwall Regional Hospital [CRH] Committee will closely watch the Type A hospital’s ongoing restoration work to ensure its completion within the Ministry of Health and Wellness’s proposed 30-month deadline.

Heaven was speaking to journalists on Thursday during the MBCCI’s visit to the CRH’s site in Mt Salem, St James to assess the restoration work which has been done there to date. The visit formed part of the mandate for the MBCCI’s newly formed Cornwall Regional Hospital Committee to work in collaboration with the CRH’s Rehabilitation Oversight Committee.

“The minister [Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton] said it would be 24 to 30 months, so we are going to hold him to that. As a member of the Rehabilitation Oversight Committee, I will work with my Cornwall Regional Hospital Committee to ensure that they are aware of what is happening and that we monitor this project closely,” said Heaven.

Asked about his confidence in the project being finished within deadline, in light of past deadlines for the work’s completion having not been met, Heaven expressed confidence that the oversight committee would see the rehabilitation finished.

“The minister gave his word, and that is what we have to work with. What happened in the past is the past, and, based on the new oversight committee and the direction we are going, I am confident that, based on discussions with him, we will have our hospital within 24 months,” Heaven declared.

Previous deadlines to complete the CRH’s rehabilitation process, which started in response to noxious fumes that prompted relocation of several hospital departments in February 2017, were set for November 2019 and then December 2020. However, the work was stalled because of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with the completion schedule being pushed back to the first quarter of 2022.

The current rehabilitation work at the CRH has been estimated for completion by December 2024. Engineering firm M&M Jamaica is carrying out the work, having previously signed a $1.6 billion contract with the Ministry of Health and Wellness last November to undertake the project.

However, concerns have been raised about whether the project’s estimated budget of $5.8 billion will be enough to complete the work. In May this year, Opposition Spokesman on Health Dr Morais Guy argued that the hospital’s rehabilitation would require approximately $10 billion.

In the meantime, Heaven noted that the MBCCI continues to do its part to source funding in support of the CRH, to include its recent donation of $5 million through its fundraising telethon which it held in April to purchase much-needed equipment for the hospital.

“Through our telethon, we donated $5 million to the hospital, but $5 million is a drop in the bucket. Naturally, we plan to raise more funds for the hospital, and we beseech our members to assist in any way possible that we can assist, to provide support for the hospital and also to ensure that the completion [of the restoration work] is done,” said Heaven.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com