Minister Promises Better Management Of Hospital Rehabilitation

The Government has boosted the project management capacity of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, where hospital rehabilitation works will now be managed with more efficiency.

Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, was addressing the works being carried out at Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in St James, during the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 1).

He said an overseas entity with the “requisite experience in hospital buildout” has been engaged and is working along with the Ministry’s project team to ensure “quality assurance”.

He said when all the elements, including required best practices from multilateral partners, are put together “both in practice, qualifications and experience, we do believe that you are going to see much smoother flow to the recovery of the Cornwall Regional Hospital,” the Minister said.

Stressing that “we are on a good path now”, he said adjustments had to be made in the way that the management of the rehabilitative work was being done, and it led to delays.

Minister Tufton added that the major upgrading projects that the ministry is undertaking will benefit from the increased capacity that has been developed, along with lessons learned from the rehabilitation of the CRH.

“There are some rigid systems in place, a lot of care is being taken, and I believe that the people of Jamaica will benefit from this capacity that we have put in place,” Minister Tufton further added.

Regarding funding for the Ministry over the next fiscal year, the Minister said there is “a significant increase on the capital side”, and where there is a decrease in comparison to the last financial year, it is on account of some of the “extraordinary” activities associated with spending on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.