MOUNT SALEM, St James — Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says he is encouraged by the fast pace at which the $5.7-billion Western Adolescent and Paediatric Hospital is being constructed. However, the Chinese contractors have complained that local workers are proving a challenge.

“Significant progress [has been] made over the last two months. We have a third floor going up to a fourth, and the front section of the building, as you can see, is all framed up. Based on the team that is here they are expecting that by the end of March to go three floors to the front — in keeping with the design — and another floor on top and a third building where the foundation will be in place, hopefully, to put the first floor also in place,” the minister said.

Tufton made the comments during a tour of the construction site last Friday.

He last visited in June 2022 when work resumed on the foundation of the building after workers arrived from China. The hospital was scheduled to be completed in 2021 but the project ground to a halt in 2020 after Chinese workers returned home with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese teams were also employed for rehabilitation work being done at the nearby Cornwall Regional Hospital.

“There seem to be no issues between the two work sites, which was a concern that we had, because you see the close proximity between the work that is going on in the Cornwall main building and of course, we have an active hospital. So, we are treating patients at the same time and my understanding from the clinical team is that they are making their best efforts to keep everything separate and within parameters,” stated Tufton.

There are a total of 56 Chinese workers and 65 locals working on the children’s hospital construction site. Plans are also in place for 13 more Chinese workers to arrive on the island soon. And while Tufton had high praises for the work of the Chinese teams, their contractors were less impressed by locals working on the site.

“There is a problem with the local workers. Some workers may come today and not come tomorrow without asking for leave,” one team member told Tufton.

Both Tufton and Prime Minister Andrew Holness have in the past spoken of the need to import some category of skilled workers in situations in which there is a shortage of local staff. There has been some pushback about the stance but both men have stood their ground.

Last December Tufton assured that despite a delay in sourcing labour for the project, he did not anticipate that it would be significantly impacted.

“I think we are being proactive and looking at what is required and then pushing on getting the pace that is required by either bringing in the labour or working the hours that are necessary to keep the project on track,” he said then.

Ground was broken for the six-storey, 220-bed hospital on the compound of the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Mount Salem on October 23, 2019.

Funding is being provided by the governments of Jamaica and the People’s Republic of China. The project is being managed by the Urban Development Corporation.

When completed, the state-of-the-art facility will be the only one of its kind in the Caribbean that will be able to treat children and adolescents up to 16 years old.