This announcement was made by newly elected president of the MBCCI, Oral Heaven during a partnership follow-up discussion on the hospital grounds on Thursday.

“I, as president, assigned a committee that is dedicated to the Cornwall Regional Hospital…as a matter of fact, the name of the committee is the Cornwall Regional Hospital Committee,” Heaven told reporters.

Noting that this committee will work closely with the already established CRH Rehabilitation Oversight Committee, Heaven stated that MBCCI will also provide additional support with donations of needed equipment, whenever possible.

“Cornwall Regional is important to us and it’s a major Type-A hospital that services not just Montego Bay, St James, but the entire western Jamaica. It is important that we see this hospital up and running to its full capacity, so the committee is assigned [to] work closely with the rehabilitation oversight committee to ensure a timely completion of this hospital and also to ensure that we provide support to the hospital whenever it is possible.

“So whenever there are needs that we can assist with through our membership, we will support the hospital,” declared the MBCCI president.

Heaven pointed out that the previous MBCCI administration had, earlier this year, conducted a telethon to raise funds for the hospital which has been under renovations since 2016. A total of $5 million was raised to purchase equipment for the hospital, the president said.

“There are some things that we will be purchasing. Five million is a drop in the bucket so naturally we plan to raise more funds for the hospital and seek to have our members to assist in any way possible to provide support to the hospital, and also to ensure that the completion is done,”

Director of the MBCCI and chair of the newly built Cornwall Regional Hospital Committee, Andrea Rhule-Hudson said the money raised from the telethon will go towards purchasing equipment for the hospital’s paediatric ward.

“…There are about 10 items that we are going to be dealing with within the next couple of days or weeks. We have some bassinets, lab equipment. Children’s ward mainly… that is the one we are focusing on,” said Rhule-Hudson.

Though there is no set timeline on when the donations will be handed over, the director said the process has already started.

“We have requested the quotes for them. We have requested two quotes so that we can make a comparison and then go ahead with the purchase. As soon as we get those in hand, they will be delivered,” she said.

The MBCCI is also committed to continuing its efforts to raise funds for CRH, Rhule-Hudson told reporters.

“We are also going to be continuing with our telethon in the form of a gospel concert and so we want the support of you all here today, along with the public, to raise more funds because there are going to be ongoing needs of the hospital that we would like to fulfil,” she said.

“We had a series of events with our telethon and we wanted to climax with a gospel concert, but that did not get to be fulfilled in the last administration, so we will be having it at the Sam Sharpe Square. We haven’t decided on a date as yet since this new administration was recently formed,” added Rhule-Hudson.

Senior medical officer of the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Dr Derek Harvey welcomed the establishment of the Cornwall Regional Hospital Committee. He noted that the MBCCI has been instrumental in providing well-needed assistance in previous years.

“This partnership is one that has been ongoing for a long time. It started out in the previous administration where we were beneficiaries of personal protective gear. They have been very supportive by making their calls and providing food items, and it continues since the latest partnership we heard would have been the telethon which has raised $5 million with a view to donate equipment for the hospital,” Dr Harvey shared.

He continued, “…Because it is a partnership they have asked us to identify some special needs which we have — and all areas have needs — but we have focused on paediatric, the accident and emergency department, and the laboratory.”