New Peebles Hospital to be handed over next month – Cromwell Smith
“It is the bomb, off the chain, out of the park, off the hook… I’m telling you,” Smith said while speaking on the Umoja radio show last evening, September 12, 2013.
Smith, while conceding that mistakes were made along the way with the construction of the hospital, noted that he was close to saying that the hospital construction was ‘worth every penny’. “It’s a source of great pride for the country really,” a clearly elated Smith stated.
“It’s almost completed so I think in the next five weeks, but certainly around the middle to the end of October we should be getting the keys,” he stated.
The hospital was previously expected to be handed over to government sometime last month.
“I don’t emote so much over things, but I’m really proud of the hospital… it really looks good. The contractors that are finishing it up did a really good job and a lot of the equipment is already in on the walls and the faucets [have] running water…,” Smith disclosed.
He added that he was looking forward to the handing over of the keys and was hopeful that the people of the Virgin Islands would get a look at what their ‘dollars have bought’. “It was money that was spent well,” Smith assured.
The new section of Peebles Hospital has been under construction for close to a decade and several reports have placed the construction cost as surpassing $100M.
However, Health Minister Hon. Ronnie W. Skelton had indicated that the cost of the hospital to the government since 1998 had amounted to approximately $99M.
The Minister had told Virgin Islands News Online last year that the hospital would have likely been completed within a 15-18 month timeline effective May 7, 2012.
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26 Responses to “New Peebles Hospital to be handed over next month – Cromwell Smith”
More lies we have heard this for the last year of the NDP …but then again people being paid to give us propaganda
On the other hand, I as a non-partisan hack is not ready to leap for joy as yet. What has happen and what has gotten done thus far? Well, after being under construction for over a decade and approximately $100M squandered, we are finally getting the keys for a shell, for a facility. Are we ready for a ribbon cutting or political photo op? Has the needed equipment been installed? Has it been outfitted with furnishing? Are the additional personnel, ie., doctors, nurses, therapists, nutritionists, xray techs, facility management personnel, lab tech......etc recruited and ready to start work?
Moreover, the whole planning, programming, budgeting, design, construction, use, operating ....etc was poorly planned and executed. Undoubtedly, a new hospital is needed. However, a number of steps should have been taken before a shovel of dirt was turned. First, neither a design nor construction contract should have been awarded before full funding was secured. Secondly, staffing needs should have been identified and personnel trained simultaneously with the design and construction of the facility so staffing could in place with the opening of the hospital. Thirdly, equipment should have procured to be installed in parallel with or slightly after the facility construction; similarly, furnishing should have procured to put be in place slightly after the facility construction. Fourthly, too much politics embedded in the walls of the facility. Once the project was approved, its construction should have continued regardless of who was in power.
Thus, I will get elated when the facility is equipped, building and life safety systems are commissioned, furniture is in place and staffing recruited, trained and in place and doors flung open to provide a myriad of quality, accessible and affordable health services for citizens and visitors. There is nothing more important in governing than providing quality, accessible and affordable healthcare. Politics move aside and let's get this show on the road. It has been too long; this has to be the world record for constructing a hospital.