THE long-promised forensic pathology autopsy suite, which is expected to increase the forensic capacity of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and reduce the backlog of criminal and other cases, “is practically finished” according to Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang.

“It’s almost done, it’s just the equipment we are putting in now, the building itself is practically finished. We are installing the freezers and the other equipment as we speak,” Chang told the Jamaica Observer during a recent interview.

He said the opening for the state-of-the-art facility, which will be located at 149 Orange Street in downtown Kingston will “definitely” take place this year.

“I can’t give you a date specifically at this time but it will be soon,” Chang added.

The suite is also expected to bolster the work of the Institute for Forensic Science and Legal Medicine.

In 2021 the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government announced the $555.9 million spend, stating that two years should see the long-awaited forensic pathology autopsy suite gracing Jamaica’s capital, a stone’s throw from Kingston Public Hospital, the island’s premier trauma centre.

The lack of an autopsy suite has resulted in several issues over the years, chief among them the expense of outsourcing the services to privately operated funeral homes, which between 2017 and 2021 cost the Government $482 million for the storage of bodies.

The island has not had a national morgue since the 1970s. The Edward Seaga-led JLP Government was advanced in planning the construction of an autopsy suite when it lost the 1989 General Election. Successive administrations have since mooted the construction of a modern facility, especially with renewed fervour following the 2007 shock death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer while the island hosted the International Cricket Council World Cup, sparking an investigation that unveiled inadequacies on several levels.

That year, then national security minister under the People’s National Party Government Dr Peter Phillips said the Woolmer investigation “brought into focus the need for the most up-to-date forensic capabilities possible, including, most importantly, the construction of a new public morgue”.

The PNP Government, however, lost the September 2007 General Election to the JLP and with it the plan to allocate $80 million for the construction of a state-of-the-art morgue died.

In 2008, nearly $1 billion worth of national security contracts, including almost $500 million to complete the long-awaited public facility, were approved by the National Contracts Commission (NCC).

The Office of the Contractor General, in a news release issued at the time, said $425.6 million had been approved for the construction of the facility at 149 Orange Street, downtown Kingston. That contract was awarded to Tank-Weld Metals, and expectations were that the building would be completed by the end of 2009.

Fast-forward to 2018 and then National Security Minister Robert Montague announced that the ministry was moving quickly on plans for the construction of an autopsy suite in Kingston.

At that time Montague said the ministry already had the lands for the facility and was hoping to have the approval processes completed with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation and other agencies soon.

“We…want to move very quickly on that, so that we can use that as a basis to begin to build out a public morgue,” Montague said then.

In 2021 the Andrew Holness-led Administration said it had anticipated that 40 per cent of construction activities would be completed for the fiscal year 2021/22. It said the project, which is being financed from the consolidated fund, was slated to commence April 2021 and was projected to end in March 2023.