Arima Hospital costing $250M less

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, speaking to reporters during a tour of the facility on Thursday afternoon, said the hospital was being built as is .

“We have not touched one square foot of that facility,” Deyalsingh said .

“The facility, as designed, is going ahead for 150 rooms. What has been reduced is the cost of the building .

We have said in the Parliament that we have to cut out waste, mismanagement and corruption .

You are getting the same hospital with the same capacity, but the people of Arima are being saved a quarter of a million dollars. We are trying to do more with less all the time.” The new Arima Hospital is intended to complement the new Sangre Grande Hospital and the Couva Hospital .

Deyalsingh said this would free up the three legacy hospitals - Mt Hope, Portof- Spain and Sangre Grande - to become tertiary centres of excellence .

The facility is being constructed by China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Company Ltd .

The minister also said Government is committed to building a new lab to encompass the Chemistry, Food and Drugs, Trinidad Public Health Lab, the Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the National Blood Transfusion Service .

Deyalsingh said the population has to get into a stage of reduction of demand for health care service .

He said it was his intention to change the model from one of reactive medicine treatment to one of prevention, adding that in the private sector, it costs about $10,000 per day to have one patient stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) .

Education Minister and Member of Parliament for Arima, Anthony Garcia, said when the idea for a new hospital was proposed, they were met with many objections because it was felt that because of the close proximity to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex at Mt Hope, and because of the access to the Priority Bus Route, there was no need for a first class hospital in Arima .

“The people in Arima continued in our fight and our agitation and we got the hospital that the people in Arima need,” Garcia said .

Deyalsingh said the use of the old facility was yet to be determined, but said it could be used as part of primary health care .

The overall completion of the facility was 28 percent, and is expected to be completed by June 2018 .