NEW HOSPITAL – Opening ‘Almost There’, Says P.M.

THE official naming ceremony for the soon-to-be-opened Owen King EU Hospital took place on location last Sunday afternoon.

Scores of health officials and staff from Victoria Hospital joined high-ranking government officials and other guests at a three-hour-long ceremony for the hospital named in part after Saint Lucian surgeon, Dr. Owen King, who died in 2013. His son, former Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Stephen King, spoke on the family’s behalf, expressing their gratitude for honouring the man many referred to as “Papa”.

A guided tour of the new medical facility last Sunday also provided the scope of services the new institution is expected to provide.

Minister for Health, Alvina Reynolds, said the naming ceremony was a closer step towards moves to developing the island’s health care sector. She said that given their importance, “hospitals are and must be considered treasured assets” and that the main objective of the new hospital’s operations would be improving the delivery of improved health care services.

“This new structure ushers in a new paradigm in the management of patient care, one which is geared at becoming more patient-centred, driven by the primary objective of ensuring that our population receives the most modern and up-to-date medical services,” Reynolds said.

The new hospital features four operating theatres and a minor suite in the accident and emergency department. Two of the four operating theatres will each specialize in a critical area, namely obstetrics and surgical procedures, while the other two will specialize in main operating procedures.

The naming ceremony came nearly a decade after theoretical plans were cemented into an actual edifice. A myriad of problems delayed the final opening of the hospital, touted to become a centre of excellence for health care in the OECS. Such problems included funding, equipping the hospital and implementing the requisite transition process from Victoria Hospital.

The hospital plant sits on over 150,000 square feet expanse at Millennium Heights, was funded principally by the European Union (EU) which injected about EC$ 167 million (nearly 40 million Euros) into the project.

Billed as the largest infrastructural project ever funded by the EU in the OECS, it will replace the long-serving Victoria Hospital, which is nearly 130 years old. Moreover, the hospital is said to rival some hospitals in the 28 EU member states in terms of modernity.

EU Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Mikael Barfod, was on hand to join Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony in unveiling the new plaque at the front entrance to the hospital. Moments before the unveiling, Barfod focussed on the themes of time and unlimited potential, both of which have come to categorize the hospital.

“I’m extremely pleased that we’ve gotten this far,” Barfod said. “Today’s ceremony signifies a major milestone in the long journey from an idea to the construction of this state-of-the-art hospital and soon to the full functioning and operation of health services for the people of Saint Lucia, the wider Caribbean and beyond.”

The EU Ambassador also encouraged government to consider entering public-private partnerships in order to ensure the hospital’s sustainability. While France will continue to assist in transitioning the staff into the new hospital, Barfod said the scale of the hospital demands that excellence in health care services go hand in hand with profitability. However, the hospital’s opening date remains one of his key concerns.

“I can’t wait to take part in this opening,” Barfod said. “All you need, Prime Minister, is to give me the date and I’ll be here…So what’s keeping us back?”

In his remarks last Sunday, Dr. Anthony expressed gratitude to the European Union on the nation’s behalf for the “monumental gift”. The Prime Minister said universal health care should have the support of and be accessed by all Saint Lucians.

Dr. Anthony announced that in anticipation of the new hospital’s official opening, Cabinet has decided to establish a post of Director of Health Sector Transition, whose responsibility will be to open and operationalize the Owen King EU Hospital and St. Jude Hospital. That director will also be responsible to institute a system of health financing that paves the path to universal health care.