MONTEGO BAY, St James — A relieved Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton on Friday thanked Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness for not relieving him of his ministerial post, despite calls for his head, when the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) project dragged on for years.

“I want to give him absolute credit, he and the Cabinet,” Tufton said, before making his point in a light-hearted manner that prompted laughter from guests at the ground-breaking ceremony for CRH’s Accident & Emergency Department.

“Between you and I — and don’t tell him — there were a few times I think him faith in me was a little weary, you know. Wondering, ‘Bwoy, is this man going to really deliver? Should I throw him to the kerb?’ And between you and I — and don’t tell him — I figure some of you here were pressuring him to do the same thing,” Tufton said adding to the amusement.

“It’s alright, we understand that’s the politics of the thing, right? And the truth is, you just want action,” the minister added.

The hospital was closed in 2017 after staff complained of noxious fumes within the building. A decision was subsequently taken to relocate staff, patients and services to other facilities across St James, Trelawny, and Hanover. What initially appeared to be a relatively small-scale repair job involving air-conditioning units and related systems morphed into a major upgrade that required the building to be gutted. The project became a nearly decade-long effort to restore the main tertiary care facility serving western Jamaica.

The prolonged delays attracted widespread criticism from the Opposition, civil society groups, hospital staff, patients, and other stakeholders, who viewed the slow pace of the work as a major concern, given the hospital’s importance to the region.

On Friday, Tufton praised Holness for his patience throughout the process and for allowing him the opportunity to oversee the work.

“In his wisdom, he stuck to the mission, he allowed me the opportunity, and I want to thank him for that. I dare say that this hospital will set the standard which all other hospitals need to emulate,” the minister stated.

Tufton again explained factors that had contributed to the delay: Work halted for three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes Beryl and Melissa, and time spent making the building ready for work to be done.

“It took a year-and-a-half to relocate the hospital around the existing buildings because you couldn’t put the 400 and odd people on the street,” he said. “We had to build buildings, lease buildings, equip buildings.”

Holness, during his address, confirmed that he called in Tufton to discuss concerns being raised about the project.

“We did have that heart-to-heart and difficult conversation, particularly on questions about overruns and costs,” he said.

“When the pressure was being brought on Minister Tufton about the length of time [it was] taking to complete the hospital, as prime minister I could not ignore those calls, I could not ignore the public opprobrium on the Government,” Holness said.

He stressed that he has similarly held other ministers’ feet to the fire in an effort to ensure that they perform.

“Our Cabinet is not a dictatorship, it is about sitting down and really discussing what is in the best interest of the country and to ask ourselves the difficult question, ‘Can you deliver for the country?’,” Holness stated.