00:00 The decommissioning of the central block of the Port of Spain General Hospital,
00:03 which occurred after the 2018 earthquake, continues to have a serious impact on the hospital.
00:09 So says Chief Executive Officer of the Northwest Regional Health Authority, Major Anthony Blake,
00:15 has bed capacity has gone from 574 to 257, inclusive of the maternity ward,
00:23 despite efforts to increase capacity.
00:26 Going from 574 beds to less than half of that has had a serious impact on our ability to provide
00:34 the level of service that we need.
00:37 And this is why the construction of the new central block is something
00:41 stakeholders are highly looking forward to.
00:43 We now will speak very shortly about the construction process,
00:46 the progress of the construction.
00:48 And this project was conceptualized in December 2019.
00:53 The project actually started in terms of groundbreaking in June 2022,
00:57 and the estimated completion is 2025.
01:00 And we expect to commission and be in that building, operating it in 2025.
01:06 Staffing, adequate maintenance, proper ICT equipment through proper procurement,
01:11 retooling and training present staff are some of the areas the NWRHA says it is focusing on
01:18 for the new building, which would feature a teaching hospital along with the expansion
01:23 of other services.
01:24 Additional human resources would also be needed,
01:28 and NWRHA Chairman Lisa Agard states that it is being looked at.
01:32 We have prepared a separate budget to cover all of the additional human resources we require,
01:42 as well as the maintenance of all of the equipment, etc.
01:45 And we have submitted a separate budget to the Ministry of Health,
01:51 so that when the central block comes online in 2025,
01:57 we remain hopeful that a substantial part of the budget that we have submitted for that facility
02:05 will in fact get approved.
02:10 In terms of the NWRHA's financials for the years 2022 and 2023,
02:16 it is stated that there was a 28% drop in capital expenditure allocation.
02:22 In 2022, 100% of what was received was spent, and in 2023, only 69% was spent.
02:30 These spends exclude anything to do with the central block.
02:34 Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
02:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments