KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesman on Health and Wellness Dr Alfred Dawes is calling on Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton to launch an independent investigation into the Bellevue Hospital procurement process and to hold accountable the officers responsible for the failure to advance the long-promised expansion of the facility.

According to Dawes, in a press release, the call comes following confirmation from the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) that, despite the Government’s 2022 announcement of plans to construct a 100-bed mental health facility at Bellevue Hospital, no procurement submission for the project has ever been presented to the Commission.

He said the revelation directly contradicts comments made by Minister Tufton in an August interview, in which he stated that a procurement submission had been “returned” by the PPC for re-evaluation in May 2026 and referred to years of “back and forth” with the commission. The PPC has since made clear that it could not have returned a submission it never received.

“This is precisely why accountability must start at the top,” Dawes said. “The minister has spent this year lecturing nurses and doctors about accountability. He signed an Accountability Framework and warned that professionals who shirk their duties will be ‘under the ministry’s radar.’ He also declared that ‘those who cannot perform should move out of the way to put people who can perform.’ We agree, minister. That standard must apply to everyone, including those within the ministry who were responsible for advancing this project.”

Dawes said the circumstances surrounding the Bellevue project raise serious questions about the ministry’s internal oversight and require an independent examination of what was done over the past four years.

“We need to know who was responsible for the procurement process, what work was actually undertaken, why no submission reached the PPC, and who provided the minister with the information he relied upon when he attributed the delay to the C
commission,” he said. “If accountability is truly the standard, then it cannot be applied selectively. Those responsible must face the same standard the minister has demanded of healthcare workers. Accountability cannot only run downhill.”

The consequences of this failure are not abstract. Bellevue’s emergency room consists of three cubicles separated by partitions, with just 19 female and 54 male acute beds. Patients in psychiatric crisis are being turned away, while healthcare workers continue to provide care under severe constraints, without adequate space or privacy.

Additionally, the PPC reports an average turnaround of 1.7 weeks on complete submissions. Four years after the Bellevue expansion was announced, however, the ministry had not presented the commission with a procurement submission for the project.

“The most vulnerable Jamaicans, patients in mental health crisis, deserve better,” Dawes said. “They deserve a healthcare system that treats mental health with urgency and a Government that takes responsibility when its systems fail.”