$700,000 a bed for Tobago hospital

Jack Warner said Friday night the huge cost overrun of nearly $600 million in the Scarborough Hospital project has made the hospital one of the most expensive in the world.

Speaking at a political meeting in San Fernnando he said at that cost, it means the avarage cost per bed in $700,000. And the hospital is not yet finished.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago has ordered a forensic audit into although Minister for Tobago Development Vernella Alleyne-Toppin has said the project will continue.

"The hospital, started in 2002, has not yet been delivered and has cost the State, moving from the original price of $130 million to the end cost estimated at $790 million," she noted.

Alleyne Toppin said, "Cabinet has agreed to advance the required sums of $30 million in the first instance and $60 million later, and to eventually arrive at $240.9 million, in the interest of the people of Tobago and the national community".

Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis told reporters the State has already spend $449.58 million on the project, and an additional $240.9 million is required to finish it.