KPH bursting at the seams

KINGSTON, Jamaica—An independent assessment has found that 58 per cent of the architectural elements of the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) are obsolete, and 70 per cent of its electrical panels are in poor condition. The assessment also found that the downtown Kingston facility, which is the largest of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean, occupies about 15,000 square metres of space, against a requirement of about 75,000 square metres. This was shared by the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton on Tuesday during a statement in the House of Representatives, where he told his fellow lawmakers of the Government’s plans to construct four new public hospitals. The four projects are: a new 250-bed Type B Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth; a new 250-bed Type C Falmouth Public General Hospital in Trelawny; a new 150-bed Type C Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover; and a new 720-bed Type A Kingston Public Hospital campus at Orange Street, Kingston. “Together, these projects will deliver some 1,370 beds inside modern, climate-resilient hospitals. The three rural hospitals alone will rise from about 260 beds today to 650,” said Tufton. Tufton shared that the new KPH campus at 151 Orange Street will be the “high-acuity heart” of a three-campus KPH network. Orange Street will provide emergency, surgical, critical and complex inpatient care. The existing campus will be redeveloped for outpatient and diagnostic services, and St Joseph's will house the Centres of Excellence in Nephrology and Oncology. Tufton said the Orange Street campus is planned for about 720 beds, including 82 critical care beds in intensive care, high dependency and a burns unit; 14 operating theatres; and a 64-space emergency department and trauma centre. It will be built in phases, beginning with new surgical and medical towers, with a target to complete phase one construction in year four. Tufton highlighted that the current KPH is the largest hospital operating in the country and that it is also the principal trauma centre. “It serves a region holding 47 per cent of Jamaica's population and receives referrals from across the island and the wider Caribbean,” he said. The construction will be undertaken by the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) and is being done in consultation with the Inter-American Development Bank. —Lynford Simpson