'New Health Ministry HQ will improve health care, save costs'

The new Ministry of Health administrative building at Queen’s Park East, Port of Spain is expected to make public health care management more efficient and save the government millions of dollars in rental costs.

During his budget statement in Parliament on Monday, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the building was constructed through a public-private partnership at a cost of $280 million. He said it will house 800 employees and include a two-storey carpark with 282 spaces.

He said in the past four years Trinidad and Tobago achieved World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization benchmarks for maternal deaths, and met regional and global sustainable and developmental targets for neonatal mortality rates, both ahead of schedule.

“We have adopted a multi-disciplinary approach for sustainable solutions towards preventing, managing and controlling the burden of mobility, mortality, and disability due to non-communicable diseases.

“We seek to ensure that the population can reach the highest sustainable standards of physical and mental health, quality of life and productivity at every age. We are committed to ensuring that those diseases will no longer be a barrier to well-being, and social-economic development in the country.”