By Anna Ramdass
The billion dollar Couva Children’s hospital was handed over to UDeCOTT last week and the State Enterprise is moving with pace to get the ball rolling for a private/public partnership so the hospital can open its doors.
UDeCOTT chairman Noel Garcia in a telephone interview with the Express on Tuesday said that the Chinese firm Shanghai Construction Group officially handed over the completed hospital to UDeCOTT and work is now in stream to develop a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the partnership. The Couva Children’s hospital was a flagship project constructed under the former People’s Partnership Government led by former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Garcia said with the handover there is now a “liability period” for six months for the contractor to correct any problems. However, he said, that all works have been completed satisfactorily. Garcia said he as well as Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and the Parliamentary Committee have all visited the site and “I am satisfied with what I have seen, I think it is a good facility, hopefully it will add to the stock of health infrastructure and it will work towards an improved health care system in Trinidad,”. “We are in the process of finalising the RFP for the public/private partnership and that should go to Cabinet soon and we expect within the next three or four weeks to come up with that RFP,” he said. Garcia said extensive research has to be done to prepare the RFP because it is the first time this country is seeking to establish a private/public partnership for a hospital. UDeCOTT, he said, appointed a small team comprising of persons from the Health Ministry, the Ministry of Finance, UDeCOTT and others to come up with the parameters that would guide the RFP. “We are pretty confident that what we are coming up with will ensure that we get the best possible operator for the hospital,” said Garcia.
Questioned on whether all works on the hospital itself was completed, Garcia said there are minor construction works taking place not on the hospital itself but on the surroundings. He noted that there was a recent newspaper advertisement advising of traffic disruptions due to the upgrade of infrastructure around the hospital, including the round-a-bout area to improve the traffic flow. Prior to the completion of the hospital construction, the former Government spent millions in procuring the latest technology, medical equipment and furniture for the hospital.
Asked whether the equipment was being safeguarded and functioning, Garcia said that there is a bio medical engineer on UDeCOTT staff to ensure that the proper procedures are put into place so that the equipment are protected and functioning. He said an inventory was created and each item was tagged and security measures were put into place so there is no unauthorised removal of the equipment. Questioned on a time frame for the completion of the RFP and sourcing a private partner and whether this will be achieved before the end of this year, Garcia responded “ We would hope so, it is relatively new process that we are embarking upon and the quicker we can get the hospital up and running the better. UDeCOTT is governed by the directives of the Cabinet so all will be subject to the approval of the Cabinet, we are just agents of the Government,”.
He said the RFP will go out both locally and internationally as he disclosed that there has been some local interest but there will be a full transparent process in place to ensure that the best operator is selected. Garcia said the private partner will be expected to also provide a full contingent of staff for hospital’s operations. HE also pointed out that there is a training component to the hospital.(Trinidad Express)
