Tufton hoping for full CRH restoration by end of year

WESTERN BUREAU:

The cut off date for full restoration of the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay has been extended from September 2026 to March 2027, but Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is pushing for works to be completed before the end of this year.

The timeline was reiterated by Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton during a tour of the newly restored Catherine Hall Health Centre in Montego Bay.

He said that while CRH’s Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) should be completed by this summer, the rest of the hospital should be finished by the end of this fiscal year.

“For CRH, a lot of progress is being made, and we do expect the A&E Department to be opened some time during the summer, or maybe just after the summer. For the full hospital, I said in the Parliament that it would be in this financial year, which ends in March 2027, but I am hoping that we will do it this calendar year, and the A&E will be open by September,” said Tufton.

The hospital, which is the only Type A hospital in the county of Cornwall, has been attracting significant negative attention in recent months, with issues such as a protest by doctors and nurses over poor working conditions, and complains about patients being left on chairs and benches for as many as four days after being admitted.

Tufton highlighted that the damaged roof and flooded wards resulted in reduced bed capacity after the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October.

Prior to the hurricane, Tufton said he was pushing for the hospital’s restoration, which was sparked by the emergence of a noxious-fumes issue in 2017, to be completed by this coming September.

Since the worked was first slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there has been as many as seven missed timelines for completion of the restoration initiative, which is projected to cost $13.5 billion.

Tufton also gave an update on the progress being made on the Western Children and Adolescent Hospital (WCAH), which is being constructed on the grounds of the CRH. That project had an initial completion date of March 2027.

“The contractors at WCAH are back on site, because they had taken a break for the Chinese New Year, and they have added some capacity there. Work is taking place with a projected completion time, and I do not want to say which date they have given, but we are looking certainly to the end of the financial year,” said Tufton.

Meanwhile, Tufton said the A&E Department at the Falmouth Public Hospital in Trelawny, which was damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa, is expected to reopen by the end of July.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com