Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says the 36-bed Parents’ Overnight Suite at Bustamante Hospital for Children, which was opened last Friday after, “repeated delays … stretching the completion date far beyond what was originally intended”, has highlighted “a deeper, systemic challenge” which his Administration will be making every effort to address.

Delivering the keynote address at a commissioning ceremony at the hospital on Arthur Wint Drive in St Andrew, Holness said the project, which was approved in 2018 and delivered through a partnership between the National Housing Trust (NHT), National Health Fund (NHF), and the South East Regional Health Authority, “should not have taken so long”.

“As we celebrate today’s achievement, it is also important to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth… from 2019 onwards, the journey was marked by repeated delays, no doubt, COVID-19 and construction and hospital, all three don’t work well together, so we understand that, but we also had contractor under-performance, termination of contracts, repeated notices of under-performance,” the prime minister pointed out.

He said added to that were redesign challenges, theft of materials and overlapping responsibilities between the three agencies, even though they worked well together. Furthermore the prime minister said there were extended procurement timelines “all of which created a cumulative slowdown that stretched the completion date far beyond what was originally intended”.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton (right) speaks with Opposition Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Eastern Julian Robinson ahead of a commissioning ceremony for a 36-bed Parents’ Overnight Suite at Bustamante Hospital for Children on Arthur Wint Drive in the capital on Friday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

“Added to that, disruptions of hurricanes Beryl (July 2024) and Melissa (October 2025), which halted activities at the site and forced further extensions. But the truth is, while bad weather and pandemics will unavoidably delay construction, bureaucracy should not, and this is something that we struggle with as a developing country,” Holness stated.

“The experience of this project highlights a deeper, systemic challenge. Too often, well-intentioned safeguards become obstacles. Too often, procedures designed to protect the public’s interest end up postponing the public benefit. That is the reality of Jamaica, a system that protects integrity but prevents delivery is not protection, it is paralysis, and that is the challenge we face as a country”.

He said lack of funding could not be blamed for the late delivery of the project nor the disruptions caused by nature, as much as “our inefficiency as a public bureaucracy to convert the capital budget quickly” contributed.

“Our capital budgets have increased in the last decade significantly; we have doubled our capital budget. The issue is how to convert the capital budget quickly. Now, part of that conversion is… what we now have is a very robust system called the public investment appraisal system, where all the projects go through a very rigorous scrutiny, and oftentimes, the projects are not assessed upon the basis of whether or not they are needed… the public’s urgent need is not ranked as a priority,” he pointed out.

Arguing that oftentimes construction is the shortest part of the process, the prime minister said without good contractors, the construction process can be elongated as well.

“As Jamaica grows and we have more capital projects to do, we are seeing the need to have a contractor class that is equal to the task. We have this concept of the contractor, as you know, a man who may not even have an office anywhere, he just comes with a few workmen; that can’t carry us to where we need to go. We need contractors who are invested in the process, they have the technical expertise, not just in construction, but they have the technical expertise in project management, in financial management, in accounting and record keeping, they understand the social, political, and cultural issues in the areas that they work, that they are very much committed to delivering on time, not cutting cost, but saving costs,” the prime minister said.

The Government, he added, will “soon be taking some policy decisions to help support contractors to help them develop so that they can take on projects at scale”.

“One of the challenges we face in housing is that we don’t have contractors that can build at scale that we need. We don’t have many. So we are stuck in the limit of building 1,000 houses, or maybe 1,500. We need a contractor who can take on 10,000 houses at a time and we need to develop that skill indigenously. Contractors are critical partners in the Government converting capital projects. They are important,” he said.

In his address, NHT Chairman Linval Freeman said the trust assigned a budget of $160 million to the project, of which approximately $150 million has been expended to date.

“I’m happy to say that we are within budget. Delivery of this project required sustained coordination among the National Housing Trust, the National Health Fund, the Southeast Regional Health Authority, contractors, the hospital management, among others, I therefore must thank all the project teams who provide expert project management support,” Freeman said.

“The impact of this facility will be immediate and very timely. Parents and guardians will have structured safe accommodation that allow them to remain close to their children during critical stages of treatment and recovery. Parents can stay close to their children without the added concern of travelling home at night while the hospital can provide care in a more supportive and organised environment for both parents and families,” he stated.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, in his remarks, said the overnight suite has been “long in coming and long demanded”.

He described the 36-bed facility as “a very positive addition” to the hospital that will benefit family members coming from out of town, wanting somewhere to stay, to freshen up, to overnight.

“This, to me, is very significant; in the past… there was one parent who placed a petition on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister, and last I checked, it was over 25,000 signatures asking for parents and guardians to spend more time with their youngsters in the hospital as part of supporting their recovery. It’s a tried, tested concept… and we have long talked about it,” Tufton said.

Bustamante Hospital for Children is the only specialist paediatric hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean. It caters to the medical needs of children in Jamaica and neighbouring Caribbean countries from zero to 12 years with an array of services, from general medicine to cardiology, neurology, nephrology, oncology and surgery to intensive care and more. It has 279 beds, including six for ICU and a 10-bed cardiac ICU, plus an accident and emergency department that sees approximately 70,000 patients every year.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness (left foreground) and Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton (second left, foreground share a moment with students of Creative Kids Learning Academy who performed at last Friday’s commissioning ceremony for a 36-bed Parents’ Overnight Suite at Bustamante Hospital for Children on Arthur Wint Drive in the St Andrew.Photo: Joseph wellington