Work on Moriah Health Centre starts May 1

Kinnesha George-Harry

Work on the long-awaited Moriah Health Centre is earmarked to begin on May 1.

Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary of Health Dr Agatha Carrington made the revelation at last Wednesday’s post Executive Council media briefing in Sangster’s Hill, Scarborough.

Carrington said the decision was taken at a meeting on April 15.

“The agreement was arrived at that we start the Moriah Health Centre on May 1, 2019, at which time we would see the excavating or excavation of the site and the cordoning off of the area; and we look forward to the completion of our Moriah Health Centre in April of 2020, we are keeping a close eye on that,” she said.

Residents of Moriah would be pleased with the news as they have been clamouring for a health centre for several years. The construction of the health centre was expected to begin in September 2018, following a sod turning ceremony at the proposed site on August 27 of that year.

The work surrounding the $28m facility will be overseen by the Urban Development Company of TT (Udecott) and it is expected to be delivered in 18 months.

The Secretary also addressed the plans for the Roxborough Hospital, noting that the process for the securing of tenders closed last Wednesday and she is looking forward to see who would be the provider for the hospital.

“As of today (Wednesday), all the people have put their bids in and some committee would evaluate and determine who has the best bid. This tender is dealing with procuring for us a hospital, which is going to be funded and we repay...It is a design, build, finance and the person who is doing that, they find the funds and do whatever…We, the THA, now will have to repay from our development programme over time,” she said.

This hospital, according to Carrington, will have 24 beds distributed into male, female and paediatrics wards.

“We have one area that caters for our primary care services, because our old Roxborough Health Centre would no longer be there,” she said.

Work on that hospital, she said, is expected to begin in June.