MINISTER OF Health Dr Fuad Khan yesterday apologised for the State’s failure to meet its stated goal of opening the long-delayed Scarborough Hospital in time for Christmas.
“As Minister of Health, I promised you a new Scarborough General Hospital by the end of the year,” Khan said in a full-page advertisement printed in the Newsday yesterday. “However, despite valiant attempts by all teams involved, I have fallen short of this deadline. It is for this reason I offer my sincerest apology.
“You will appreciate that this Government desires to give you a first-class hospital that will deliver the best health care for patients, both adults and children. Further you will be pleased to know that the new (hospital) will be a 100-bed facility comprising of an extensive range of clinical and support services. It will be a state-of-the-art facility providing both in-patient and out-patient services.
“I am confident that when the Scarborough General Hospital is commissioned, patients and citizens alike will be very proud of the facility,” Khan said. “Please be assured that I appreciate your kind patience and understanding in this matter.”
At yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Coco Reef Hotel in Tobago, Khan said the Hospital will be commissioned in phases. Khan said while the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) wanted the hand over of the hospital to be a turn key operation, Nipdec is ready to take commission of certain parts of the hospital from China Railways Corporation.
Khan’s apology happened to coincide with a release from the PNM’s Tobago Council criticising the PP Government–and in particular Finance Minister Winston Dookeran–on its promise to open the hospital before the end of the year. The controversial hospital was a PNM project which was dogged by delays under successive PNM administrations. Dating back to 2004, its budget has spiralled to almost $1 billion (the initial budget was $135 million). The project was at the centre of the Landate scandal involving Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley, the current PNM political leader. Rowley was later cleared of any involvement in that matter which involved the siphoning of materials off of the site.
Another dispute arose between the original contractor NH (Caribbean) International, and this resulted in arbitration. There’s anew contractor, the China Railway Construction Corporation, but that contractor has been embroiled with disputes over late bill payments on the part of State given hundreds of millions that had been due on the project when the PNM left office in 2010.
In a press release issued by PNM general secretary Ashton Forde yesterday, the PNM Tobago Council said, “For more than 40 years, the people of Tobago have been crying for a new hospital on the island.”
“In May 2010, the present People’s Partnership government took control of the Central Government under whose purview the completion of the hospital was entrusted. At that time, it was more than 85 percent complete and the UNC-controlled People’s Partnership vowed to complete and hand over the built structures by March of 2011. “The completion date was later extended to June and then to September and finally, the Minister of Finance, in his 2011/12 budget presentation announced that it will be handed over to the Tobago House of Assembly in time for Christmas of 2011.”
The PNM claimed a half-finished hospital will be handed-over and attacked coalition partner the TOP. It noted that the promises of the central Government raised questions over the role of the Tobago House of Assembly. It said the THA was to take credit for the idea of convincing the PNM government to build the facility. “This attempt by the TOP’s accomplices, the People’s Partnership, to present the people of Tobago with an unfinished hospital facility is clearly an indication of the disregard that this UNC/TOP Government holds for Tobagonians,” the PNM said.
