Dear Editor,

An old bottle does not become new because it has been sterilised, has a new label placed on, and new wine poured in. Renovation is not making a new thing, but making something look new.

Imagine a minibus which travelled hundreds of thousands of miles over 30 years delivering medical supplies islandwide has been refurbished extensively and installed with a new engine and other new mechanical and electrical parts, then it is rescoped for an ambulance with ultra-modern equipment and accessories and looking truly new, being sold as a brand-new ambulance. Would it be genuinely brand new?

If the answer is no, then it is also reasonable to conclude that a house or hospital which was constructed half a century ago and is redesigned, renovated, refurbished extensively, and even rescoped and looks quite new would still not fit the category as an entirely new house or hospital.

I will, however, readily concede that this thinking, even if it is deemed logical and rational, is not universal because there are many who will argue otherwise.

A classic example is the ongoing rehabilitation at Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) which opened in 1974, two years after construction was completed in 1972. It has been undergoing extensive renovation and refurbishing since 2018. In recent times we have been told emphatically we are going to see a brand-new hospital.

”You are not going to see any reminder of what Cornwall used to be. You are going to see a brand-new Cornwall Regional Hospital,” the health minister said on the news.

What lies beneath the rationale to label the renovation and rescoping taking place at CRH as a new building? I don’t know. But I think it is quite misleading, because this label could cause confusion among future generations, and may even eventually erase the legacy of Dr Herbert Eldemire, independent Jamaica’s first minister of health who served from 1962-1972.

Which date will we officially accept CRH was constructed, 1972 or 2025? Whose legacy should it be, Dr Eldemire’s or Dr Christopher Tufton’s?

Daive R Facey

DR.Facey@gmail.com