Black Immigrant Daily News
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, has declared that the redevelopment of the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine represents the largest infrastructure development in public health in the nation’s history.
Tufton made the disclosure at St Catherine’s Open House and Exhibition at the Church of the Open Bible in Twickenham Park in St Catherine on Wednesday.
According to Tufton, the journey in overhauling the Spanish Town Hospital which was built 70 years ago, has been years in the making.
He said the tender process for the redevelopment process of the medical facility was launched recently.
The Spanish Town Hospital, said Tufton, will receive the largest infrastructure works of the Health Systems Strengthening Programme being implemented with the support of the Inter-America Development Bank (IDB) and the European Union (EU).
“The work will see the construction of a six-storey modern facility with an estimated area of 17,633.68 square metres, including several points of access for staff and patients, and a skywalk to link existing wards,” Tufton outlined.
Additionally, upgrades will incorporate areas for accident and emergency, a radiology department, outpatient services, pharmacy, endoscopy unit, surgical suite, an intensive care unit, laboratory, medical records, staff lounge and underground staff parking, among other things.
The minister said that with the launch of the tender process completed, construction works at the Spanish Town Hospital is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year, with completion projected for the 2026-2027 financial year.
The delivery construction period anticipated is 24 months, with an additional 12 months for “the defects liability period”, according to Tufton.
“Not only is the investment in the redevelopment of the hospital the largest of the more than US$50 million-dollar Health Systems Strengthening Programme, it is also one of the largest investments that will be made in health facilities in Jamaica’s history,” he said.
“… It is significant. It demonstrates just how serious we are about ensuring that our population receives the standard of care that they deserve,” Tufton indicated.
He noted, also, that the overhaul of the current building at Spanish Town Hospital is timely, as the demand on the medical facility is significant.
Figures cited by the minister suggested that there were more than 32,000 patients seen at the hospital’s accident and emergency unit in 2021.
“Those seen in outpatient clinic numbered more than 40,000, even as 17,000 patients were admitted to the facility and some 1,947 surgeries performed.
“These numbers tell of the kind of demand currently faced by our facility and which we are determined to continue to meet and to exceed,” Tufton stated.
Meanwhile, the redevelopment of one of island’s largest hospitals will also involve
improvements to the information communication and technology (ICT) infrastructure, for enhanced access to medical services, providing, among other things, electronic access to patients’ medical records.
“Recently, the Spanish Town Hospital was provided with secured WiFi access, which is available to staff and visitors to the hospital, as well as with the necessary equipment to breathe life into the electronic health records,” said Tufton.
He explained that those specific initiatives
form part of a larger ICT infrastructure buildout to the tune of US$8.4 million at the Spanish Town facility, and 104 others.
“The work has included the installation of workstations and the training of clinical and medical records staff in the use and security of the computers. So far, 13 of the 105 facilities have benefitted,” Tufton shared.
In the meantime, Tufton disclosed that several health centres will benefit from physical upgrades, the purchase of new equipment to support the delivery of care and the design and implementation of an information systems for health (IS4H), under the Health Systems Strengthening Programme.
The health centres are: Greater Portmore, Old Harbour, and St Jago Park, all in St Catherine; St Ann’s Bay, Brown’s Town, and Ocho Rios in St Ann; and May Pen East, May Pen West, Mocho and Chapelton, all in Clarendon.
Physical upgrades of the St Ann’s Bay and May Pen Hospitals are also to benefit from significant physical upgrades under the Health Systems Strengthening Programme, Tufton stated.
NewsAmericasNow.com
