Enhanced capacity of healthcare infrastructure and services underway

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, has announced the launch of a $1-billion Health Infrastructure Maintenance Fund in the House of Representatives.

Making his contribution to the 2026/27 Sectoral Debate in the lower House of Parliament, Tufton declared, “This Fund will be financed through a percentage of the health budget dedicated to a process of routine and unexpected maintenance through a series of specific initiatives involving establishing baseline inventory logging, establishing routine maintenance schedules and outsourcing the monitoring and maintenance of our health infrastructure.” 

This will be done with a focus on mechanical, electrical, plumbing and air conditioning or HVAC and elevator services. The intention is to develop operational manuals and a Terms of Reference and performance criteria with critical success factors and outsource the routine maintenance of these specific functions for our health facilities. 

For Minister Tufton, “we cannot make the same mistake in the past where we built infrastructure and not maintain it. Today, I want to announce a more systematic and structured approach to public health infrastructure through the establishment of a Health Infrastructure Maintenance Fund.” 

Preparatory work already commenced

The preparatory work has already commenced under the Health Infrastructure Planning and Project Management Division in the Ministry, with former Regional Director of the Western Regional Health Authority, St. Andrade Sinclair, being reassigned to the Ministry’s Head Office to develop this new function. 

The Minister said, “We expect to use this financial year to complete the work for full rollout next financial year, based on a free pilot this year. Approximately $1 billion has been earmarked in this year’s budget for this new function. We must eliminate the unexpected breakdowns of our health facilities because we fail to plan.”

He also declared that the Ministry intends to hold service providers to account for service contracts they have with hospitals and health centres through the establishment of key performance indicators (KPIs). According to the Health and Wellness Minister, “more will be said on this as we build out, including the key policy support mechanism.”

More to come

Dr Tufton disclosed that the nation will see the completion of a number of capital projects that will significantly enhance the capacity of healthcare infrastructure and services during this financial year. 

This comprises the Cornwall Regional Hospital, the Western Child and Adolescent Hospital and three major comprehensive health centres: St. Jago, Old Harbour and Greater Portmore, commissioned in service to see an estimated 700,000 patient visits per annum under a new and improved environment and after an expenditure of approximately $17.5 billion.