Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 19, 2016 (SKNIS): Minister of State, Honourable Senator Wendy Phipps, announced that the Mary Charles Hospital will recommence full services during August, 2016, at Monday’s Town Hall Meeting in the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School, in Molineux.
Senator Phipps, who assists Honourable Eugene Hamilton with the Ministries of Health, Community Development, Gender Affairs and Social Services, noted that during the construction phase which commenced December 2015, the community-based hospital had still been able to provide limited emergency services from the rooms that formerly housed a dental unit. All major cases had to be transferred to the Joseph N. France General Hospital in Basseterre. She said it was critical that emergency services on the eastern corridor of the island remain open. The Pogson Medical Centre provides health services to the western portion of St. Kitts.
“I am happy to report to you that according to the last assessment by Public Works last week, Mary Charles will be officially completed on the 12th of August, and it’s the Cabinet’s intention to deal with the official reopening by the middle of August,” Minister of State Phipps said.
She explained that certain incidents emphasized that there was need to pay urgent attention to Mary Charles.
“When everything came to a crisis for us is when we got a call one morning before Cabinet that part of the ceiling over the female ward had dropped in and luckily there was no one lying in the bed underneath it, so we were able to avoid a major incident,” she said. “So we would have dealt with an emergency repair to that roof and it was only on closer examination we saw how badly off the entire facility was. So work on the actual repairs began in late 2015 after that incident.”
According to Senator Phipps, Mary Charles had been initially constructed in the 1980s and limited work had been done on the facility over the years.
“It appears that there was absolutely no work that was done by the last administration during the 20 years on Mary Charles,” Senator Phipps said. “And it is evident based on the scope of work that I will outline to you, I’ll pick out some of them,” she added.
Upgrades included the installation of 110 voltage electricity, which required the replacement of all of the wiring. Ceilings were also replaced, a parking lot was constructed, new toilets and basins were installed, the Emergency Room area was expanded, awnings were built over the doors and new cabinets were installed.
Repair work started on the roof, and also included fencing, tiling of bathrooms and flooring, as well as replacing the metal doors with vinyl material, which can resist salt air corrosion. All the locks in the building were also replaced. Following Mary Charles’ reopening, the health institution will once again be home to an ambulance.
Keith James, a contractor from the area, had been awarded the contract to carry out the repairs on Mary Charles while the Department of Public Works has oversight of the project. Minister Phipps said that just under $50,000 had been spent on the initial roof repairs. A total of approximately $710,000 had been spent on the project during the course of last year and this year. Yet to be spent on the project is $35,470 on labour and $150,000 on materials.
Works to be completed include the installation of the storage water tanks and painting. The Minister of State revealed that upon the reopening of the hospital, the work on a conference room, an Accident and Emergency (A & E) unit, and a new dental unit will take place. The look of health facilities was also addressed.
“The government took the decision that the same standard with which Pogson was rebuilt and JNF would have been rebuilt is the same standard that we have chosen for Mary Charles,” Minister of State Phipps said. “So if you go inside you will also notice that the branding of the facility begins with the colours of the paint. They are identical to what you see at JNF.”
Private sector partners in the Mary Charles rehabilitation project are Ross University, Windsor Medical School, Whitegate Board, St. Kitts Marriott Resort, Molineux Seventh Day Adventist Church,and KM Services which has done the landscaping.
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