Letter of the Day | The Cornwall Regional black-hole

THE EDITOR, Madam:

There is a big difference between what was dreamed and what is actually happening with the renovations at the Cornwall Regional Hospital. The huge amount of money being spent to fix up the old building raises more questions than it answers.

When you see the brand new hospital being built right next to the crumbling old one, you can’t help but wonder - why didn’t they just build an entirely new hospital instead? Surely the tons of money going into repairing the ancient building could have paid to construct a completely new hospital from the ground up, free of any old problems.

The number $21.4 billion and counting – makes your head spin! With that staggering pile of cash, could we not have rebuilt from the destruction of wars in other countries and still had money left over? The thought creeps in that maybe some corrupt people are finding sneaky ways to steal the public’s tax money for themselves.

The whole project allegedly smells like the height of corruption – an alleged plan to cheat the very people it is supposed to help. As the new construction wraps around the decaying old parts, it covers up the truth while sneakily robbing our shared funds. Is this Frankenstein institution that is Cornwall Regional Hospital really what we’re promised when we were promised prosperity? What of wellness and healing? I am old enough to remember cricket being played on that hospitals lawns and netball in its parking lots, with football around the back. It was an institution tied to sports and making health more holistic. But until we start questioning and resisting, the great deceivers will keep on deceiving and dancing away with our money.

I urge the people of St. James and Jamaica, do not be fooled by the costly renovations. Wake up, speak out, for only by raising our united voices can we strip away the curtain and reveal the unvarnished truth behind it.

YANNICK PESSOA