Jamaica, China sign agreement to build children’s hospital in MoBay
Health Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton (left), observes Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith (centre), signing the letters of exchange to facilitate the construction of the Western Hospital for Children in St James. The signing ceremony was held at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in New Kingston on January 9. Also participating in the signing is China’s Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Niu Qingbao. (Photo: JIS)
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Plans are advanced for the construction of a 220-bed hospital for children in western Jamaica.
The Governments of Jamaica and China today signed an agreement for the building of the Western Children’s Hospital in Montego Bay, St James.
The facility will be the first to be constructed in the island since the May Pen Hospital was built in the 1970s and will provide increased access to paediatric treatment and care.
Health Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, said the facility will bring additional beds to the nation’s health system.
“When I visited the Bustamante Hospital (for Children) earlier, I was told that they needed at least another 100 beds to satisfy the marketplace… . The fact that we’re building a 220-bed facility says to me that we’re able to now deal fairly adequately with the demands of childcare,” he said.
He noted that the new facility will enable Jamaica to meet the targets under the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, particularly as they relate to the health status of the nation’s children.
Dr Tufton was speaking at a signing of letters of exchange ceremony for the project at the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Ministry in New Kingston.
He said that following completion of the new hospital, families will be able to access specialised care for children under 12 years of age and adolescents closer to their communities. The project, he said, will also enhance the nation’s tourism product.
Approval is being awaited for lands adjacent to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, which will be the site of the new health facility.
Dr Tufton said that once approval has been granted and the necessary infrastructure is in place “within a year we’ll see a tangible product being presented”.
The minister noted that the bilateral agreement between Jamaica and China for the project will serve to strengthen the relationship between the countries as well as boost the public healthcare system.
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, said the project marks a significant milestone in the relationship between Jamaica and China as they celebrate 45 years of diplomatic relations this year.
Johnson Smith noted that the construction phase of the project will provide jobs for Jamaicans, while a wide cross section of healthcare professionals and support personnel will be employed following completion.
China’s Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Niu Qingbao, for his part, noted that the hospital will ease congestion at Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston.
Qingbao said the facility will not only serve to develop the health sector but promote childcare services.
He noted that the agreement for the hospital’s construction is a tangible demonstration of the excellent relations between the countries.
Mr Tufton , and the Foreign Affairs Minister can you please enlightened the Jamaican people on what this bilateral agreements includes? Most importantly we would like to know what China is getting out of this agreement. The Chinese are not known to give something for nothing, and sinice this is bilateral they must be getting something and we would like to know what,
You can not just make a statement that China will be building a hospital and think that we the Jamaican public is going to be excited, we want to know what we are giving up and if it is worth it.
What we would also like to know is who was the law officer who scrutinies this contractual agreement before it was allowed to be signed, and what was that persons academic background to have the competence to have gone over the contract with a fine tooth comb?
Jamaica is a very small piece of land and we have to take notice that they the chinese are going around the globe and putting their Sticky little fingers in every little spot of land that they think is vulnerable and can be abused.Jamaica is one that they have identified.
Two days ago there was a riot in Sri Lanka because the government signed a 99 years lease agreement with them and thousand of people are being displaced from their properties and their homes to acommodate them. I should hope jamaica has better since than to have done something like this.
They have infiltrated Africa already and is treating the Africans as slaves, we do not want that to happen in Jamaica.
So we the Jamaican public would like to know about any plans that jamaica intends to have with China in advance of any agreement being signed.
In closing , we do not want you and the government to think that we are going to get excited about China building a hospital and not question what is the the government giving away in return. After all, this is Jamaica land we love, and because we love it so much we want preserve as our land and not sell it to China for thirty pieces of copper. We want our generations down the line to know that this is the birthplace of their ancestors where they should be free to go. We are not looking for jamaica to become Chinese in a hundred years to come.
I wouldn’t advise jamaica guh inna nuh more dealings wid mr chin. dem nuh c wha gwaan wid di fake food? next ting china dem guh tek out real body parts and put in fake body parts inna di ppl dem ah jamaica. mi nuh know what is chiney dem agenda, but dem need fi guh.
what is it going to tek fi jamaica fi stop being so licky licky? mi cyaan undastand dis at all. mi really have a bad feelings bout dis.
Any which way you cut n dash it..this is fantastically positively good for Jamaican children . I’m cautiously optimistic this project cones to fruition without the typical negativity.