New Pt Fortin Hospital set to open Saturday

THE opening ceremony for the Point Fortin Hospital will be held on Saturday afternoon.

The new building is at the corner of Techier and the Point Fortin Main Road. It has not yet been said what will happen to the old building at Volunteer Road, Mahaica.

The ceremony will begin at 3 pm and Prime Minister Dr Rowley, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh as well as Point Fortin Mayor Kennedy Richards Jr will attend. It cost $1.2 billion, with funding from an Austrian bank, and construction began in 2015.

According to the Urban Development Corporation (Udecott) website, the three-storey building will have 100 beds comprising 26 for internal medicine, 24 for general surgery, ten for gynaecology, 15 for obstetrics, six for the psychiatric ward, ten paediatric/adolescent beds, five burn beds and four beds for the high-dependency unit.

Other services will include: general x-ray, CT scans, general ultrasound, mammography, laboratory services and endoscopy. Patients have previously had to go to the San Fernando General Hospital for CT scans and x-rays.

There were a few delays to the opening of the hospital. In February 2019, Health Minister Deyalsingh said the project would be completed by May and “fully functional” by September of that year. Then in November, he said it would be completed by March of 2020.

In March, Udecott chairman Noel Garcia said it would be complete by the end of April. Some health workers told Newsday they are looking forward to working at the new facility.