The Government has recommitted to increasing the budget for restoration work on the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay, St James, to $14.1 billion.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness reaffirmed this while addressing journalists following a tour of the Type A facility, on Saturday (April 1).

A total of $5 billion was originally programmed for the rehabilitation work, which commenced in 2019 and was slated to be executed in multiple phases. Holness indicated that there are several issues that only became apparent as the project progressed.

“When you actually start to strip the building and you begin to see all the cracks, the concrete that is crumbling, all the steel that is rotting, all the issues, what you initially budgeted may not be what the final cost is. That, obviously, was the case here, both in terms of the resources and time,” he explained.

The prime minister also noted that the hospital’s rehabilitation requires further specialised skills and talents, which have been brought in to complete the reconstruction process that has entered phase three.

This aspect entails internal works relating to constructing the operating theatres, offices, wards, sockets, medical oxygen installation, piping, and electrical features, among other inputs.

“What you [now] see is [that] the entire building has been gutted. We’ve stripped the entire building, taken out all the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems as well as plumbing [and] electricals. So, what you have here is an empty building,” Prime Minister Holness informed.

He assured, however, that “what we are going to have at the end of the [rehabilitation] process, is a first world hospital that can compete with hospitals anywhere; and, indeed, it will be, probably, the leading hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean.”

Holness said Jamaicans must also be mindful of the fact that the rehabilitation exercise was not solely about construction, as the Government had to relocate the services and facilities from the institution to a new location.

He indicated that the transfer saw several new temporary and permanent buildings erected, all at a cost of approximately $2 billion.

“So, all of these additional considerations are part of the design and construction of the building,” Holness outlined.

The CRH along with the Western Children and Adolescents Hospital, being built on the compound at a cost of US$43 Million, will offer state-of-the-art services and facilities to the citizens of St James and, by extension, western Jamaica. The projected completion date for the hospital’s rehabilitation is March 2025.