CATHERINE HALL, St James — Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says renovation work on sections of Falmouth Public General Hospital in Trelawny, which was damaged by last October’s Hurricane Melissa, is expected to be completed next month and will significantly boost the facility’s bed capacity.

“Come the end of July, we would move patients from the makeshift A&E [Accident and Emergency], which was previously the COVID-19 ward, back into the A&E. They are expected also, come the end of July, to complete the ward. There’s a two or three-floor building that represents the wards. They have slabbed the roof, so the slabbing, of course, means future hurricanes would not impact [the facility], except for surges if water comes across the road from the sea,” explained Tufton.

He also said technicians are currently installing air conditioning units while tilers are expected to start tiling the floor within a week.

The minister was speaking with journalists following a tour of the Catherine Hall Health Centre in St James last week, one of 16 severely damaged by the passage of the Category 5 storm.

Continuing his update on Falmouth Hospital, Tufton said 20 more beds will become available when there is more ward space next month, an increase from the 147 beds available before the storm.

“By the way, that’s coming from 77 beds when I became minister [in 2016]. We had made significant progress in terms of bed additions,” he pointed out.

The minister noted that more beds will become available because of an end to outsourcing of elective surgeries from the under-renovation Cornwall Regional Hospital to Falmouth .

“Falmouth is going to be better off, and starting in July, the pressures on the system we expect to ease. I could say the same for Black River [in St Elizabeth], which is now adding the finishing touches, and Noel Holmes [in Hanover], where work is going on,” added the minister.

The minister also gave an update on health centres and two hospitals in St James, saying progress is being made.

“I know it’s still inconveniencing a lot of people because some of the health centres which were temporarily repaired still have issues — because temporary means zinc roof without ceiling, so it could get hot. The engineers are in the field doing the assessment, and we’re now beginning to get from the engineers the medium to longer-term repairs. I’ll comment on those on a parish-by-parish basis as time goes by,” said Tufton in reference to the health centres.

The minister said the Catherine Hall facility, which was severely damaged by flood water, was repaired and up to 90 per cent of services are now in operation. He said the dental department is expected to be in full operation following the installation of a dental chair within two weeks.

“It means that people are coming back, which is good; we need that. Previously, they used to go to other places like Type 5 [in the heart of Montego Bay], which was challenging because of distance and so on,” argued Tufton.

The Catherine Hall facility currently has a staff component of approximately 30.