Health Minister reveals that construction on the new National Hospital has been at a ‘standstill’ following Hurricane Maria. However, he expects construction works will soon resume, after a review and consultation with the Chinese government, which is funding the project. That project was supposed to have been in its second phase by now, but work stopped since the passage of Hurricane Maria on September 18, 2017.
In the course of addressing the handing over ceremony of a $400,000.00 Sagicor Insurance Mobile Medical Unit to the government of Dominica on February 16, 2018, Darroux notedsome reasons for the standstill. He said, “It is at a standstill, not because of lack of funds or any other such reasons, but it is because we have kindly accepted our Chinese counterpart’s invitation to review the scope of work of the project, not that it was not being built to withstand hurricanes, but Hurricane Maria has opened our eyes”. Meantime, he also gave an update on what he called the “controversial Marigot Hospital.” He said “funds have already been put into the building of that hospital, and Funds are already committed to building the very controversial hospital. We have received word from our Mexican counterparts that the funds have been approved, so we are waiting on the final design to go forward, and we are also about to invite tenders for the demolition of the old Marigot Hospital, so we can start building.” He also made reference to “Smart Hospitals” to be funded PAHO/DECAD; for La Plaine, Grand Bay and Roseau, which means “making them self-sufficient after a natural disaster.”
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