Hon Vincent O. Wheatley, Minister for Health and Social Development (R9), has said the roof works on the Nurse Iris O’Neal Medical Centre on Virgin Gorda will ignite the future of healthcare on the sister island. Photo: Facebook

A $562,100 contract was awarded to Professional Roofing Ltd. for repairs to the roof of the Nurse Iris O'Neal Medical Centre. Photo: GIS

Hon Vincent O. Wheatley (R9), Minister of Health and Social Development said once the roof of the Nurse Iris O'Neal Medical Centre is repaired there will be an expansion of services offered at there in the medium to long term. Photo: GIS/File

Hon Wheatley made this statement during the contract signing for repairs to the medical centre’s roof on August 11, 2026. The $562,100 contract was awarded to Professional Roofing Ltd.

“Since taking office in 2023, we embarked, in the Ministry of Health, on a very ambitious transformational agenda, and I’m so pleased today to come to this point,” the Health Minister said. 

He added that this was not just about signing a contract for a roofing project, but is a sign of hope for the development and expansion of healthcare on Virgin Gorda. 

“The way the clinic is set up now, it is not the way it is intended to be set up. This roof here holds the key to the future of healthcare on Virgin Gorda.”

Expansion of services upon completion

Hon Whealtley said upon completion there will be an expansion of services offered at the Nurse Iris O’Neal Medical Centre in the medium to long term. 

“This roof is going to open up a whole second floor of that building that’s currently empty. The front-facing services we hope to have on the bottom and longer care are going to go on the second floor; dentistry and all those other things that are currently happening infrequently.”

Hon Wheatley said recently a sonogram training was held for nurses stationed at the Nurse Iris O’Neal Medical Centre as well as the Dr D Orlando Smith Hospital. 

“We hope to do more training for more services on Virgin Gorda…[so] persons don’t have to catch that ferry ever so often to come to Tortola.”

He spoke of a recent incident where a young woman had to go over to Tortola from Virgin Gorda at 12:30 AM and said those occurrences need to be minimised where persons have to come to Tortola for simple things. ‘The long-term goal is to have persons come very infrequently over to Tortola by offering certain services there on Virgin Gorda. 

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$562,100 contract signed to repair Nurse Iris O'Neal Medical Centre's roof