By Toni Nicholas
Keith Mondesir has not had much luck in finding many things to be proud of or even smile about in his rocky political career which started here a few years ago. However this week at a press conference on Tuesday and then at a sod turning on Wednesday the Minister of Health was all smiles even teasing journalist at the press conference as to why there were no tough questions.
But whilst the press conference sort of labored about what the Chinese would not have done and what the Taiwanese are now doing, Wednesday's ground-breaking ceremony for the commencement of the new psychiatric hospital dubbed "A brand new concept" was more celebratory.
On Thursday the Ministry of Health convened a press conference at GIS to update the media on the commencement, or re-commencement rather, of construction on the Psychiatric hospital. Present was the Minister for health, Keith Mondesir, Taiwan's Ambassador to St Lucia, Tom Chou and Jennifer Joseph, Director of Mental Health. In his remarks, the ambassador pointed to a number of quality issues which had to be addressed before work could commence.
The Mental hospital was initiated by the Chinese government under the Labour Party administration. However after assuming office in 2006 the United Workers Party in what is still being discussed as a controversial decision, severed ties with China in favour of Taiwan. The Chinese project was thus abandoned. However the government promised that the project would be completed by the Taiwanese.
"Some people ask me why the project has taken so long," Ambassador Chou said Tuesday. "My answer is very simple; clearly it is a quality consideration. We want to make the project to meet international standards and make it sustainable in the long run," he added. According to the Taiwanese ambassador his government wanted to make the new hospital one which would provide a better service and serve more people."
The main difference between the old and new concept according to the Taiwanese is that whilst the old project was designed as a general hospital, the new project was designed with psychiatric patients in mind. For instance the rooms are fitted with cushioned walls so that patients won't hurt themselves as opposed to bare concrete walls in the old design. The second difference is that the old design would have served as purely a psychiatric hospital. However under the "brand new concept" the hospital will now serve neurology and geriatric patients.
Describing this as a joyous daybreak after much criticism Keith Mondesir declared that "good things come to those who wait." According to him the new facility will be known as a neuro-psychiatric hospital. "This center will not just focus on patients who are mentally ill but also because of the amount of space that we have we will have diagnostic clinics for the mentally ill patients looking at such things as their dental care, gynecology and so on," Mondesir says. He is also hoping that the facility will become a center of excellence and serve as a diagnostic center for the eastern Caribbean.
"We are hoping that all St Lucians will be proud of the end product we have had to modify and refine, but I am putting my neck on a block that St Lucians will all be proud of this hospital." Mondesir on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Stephenson King who is a former minister of health whom he indicated was keenly interested in providing St Lucians with the best health care. "We have to also thank the Chinese for the initial work they did on this project and thank the Taiwanese for completing this project," he stated.
According to the director of Mental Health Jennifer Joseph, whilst the go ahead for the project was still being finalized her department took the time to develop policies and legislation for mental health. "Over the last few months the Ministry of health has been going through mental health reform and now the general hospital is in keeping with the new direction in which the country has decided to go in terms of mental health which at last is getting its rightful place within the health care system in St Lucia," Joseph says.
According to the Prime Minister who spoke at Wednesday's ceremony; "today signifies the re-commencement of a commitment by the government of St Lucia to good health in this country." In explaining the delay on the project King said that upon assuming office, the government felt that it was necessary to have a comprehensive evaluation of all programs and projects undertaken by the former administration. "In examining the psychiatric hospital we felt that there was a need to review the services being proposed and the manner in which these services were going to be delivered," King indicated.
"We are also very happy to note the many conditions set out for Taiwanese when we discussed it with them, to date they have adhered to all of these. One of the first conditions we set is that we would like re-commencement and completion and selection of contractors left to the government of Taiwan," he pointed out. He also added that another provision was for the project to provide jobs for St Lucians.
A ribbon cutting to signify the brand new concept and the ground-breaking ceremony for the start of the project took place on Wednesday at the site in the Cul-de sac area near the millennium highway. The new neurological facility will cater to general mentally ill and geriatric patients and will be fully furnished with furniture and equipment by the Taiwanese. The contractors, Holdyear construction, will also take care of the landscaping and general aesthetic of the facility inside and out. The hospital will provide 84 beds for psychiatric patients and 20-24 other general beds and will be built at a cost of US$6 million. Work has started as of today, with a mix of Taiwanese, Filipinos and St Lucian workers (150) being employed. The project is expected to be completed by August 2009.