Tobago hospital to open in phases

File: PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar tours the Scarborough hospital shortly after taking office in 2010

The new Scarborough General Hospital will open in phases, with accident and emergency, outpatient and diagnostic services being launched next Wednesday.

The Health Division of the Tobago House of Assembly says details for the opening were finalised at a meeting last Monday.

Health Minister Fuad Khan told reporters last week he and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be at the commissioning ceremony.

The THA and the health Ministry agreed that it would not be feasible to wait for the full completion of the facility before offering services to the public.

The 100-bed, state-of-the-art hospital is estimated to cost a total of $725 million. 

The sod for the hospital was turned in 2000 during the Panday UNC administration but construction did not begin until 2003 under the Manning PNM regime with NH International as the contractor. 

There was a two-year to deal with court matters relations to the contractor and the government agency handling the project. That ended with a change from NH to China Railway as the contractor.

When the new People's Partnership government took office the hospital was still not completed and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar promised to speed up construction in order get the hospital ready in the quickest possible time.

The THA claims the hospital as a PNM treasure, although all through the PNM reign the project had been mired in controversy and massive cost over runs. Read related story: PM Kamla calls cost of Tobago hospital a "scandal"