The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

PUBLIC Hospitals Authority Managing Director Herbert Brown said yesterday that a date has been “identified” for the opening of the Princess Margaret Hospital’s new Critical Care Block. It is only awaiting Cabinet’s approval.

After signing off on a $10m industrial agreement with government and Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) officials yesterday, Mr Brown said the PHA is “very advanced” in its progress to open the 66,000 square-foot facility.

However, he said, Cabinet would have to approve the commissioning date.

Mr Brown also said that the PHA was still deliberating on what penalties some nurses that walked off the job in support of a strike organised by Trade Union Congress President Obie Ferguson would face.

“That information has been sent to the minister for him to consult with his colleagues in Cabinet, and as soon as we get the confirmed date, we will advise,” Mr Brown said. “But a date has been identified for the opening of the Critical Care Block; it now awaits Cabinet’s approval.”

A number of challenges have plagued the Critical Care Block since its inception under the former Ingraham administration in 2011.

In July, PHA officials said the initial attempts at obtaining a $35 million loan from First Caribbean Bank, which was needed for funding the purchase of important medical equipment, had become “problematic.” The PHA also faced issues of insufficient staffing needed to operate the block, which further added to the delays.

Then last month, after Mr Brown and the PHA became embroiled in a multi-million dollar dispute with Cavalier Construction, the company’s Managing Director Richard Wilson said that constant design changes – especially in the mechanical and electrical areas – had delayed completion.

Mr Wilson told Tribune Business that the Critical Care Block was supposed to have been a 20-month project to end in June 2013, but work was still required some 15 months later.

However, as reported by Tribune Business last month and confirmed by Mr Brown yesterday, the PHA had since “approved the $35 million loan for the procurement of the equipment, furniture and also management information systems”. He added that the PHA was “very advanced” in its progress to open the facility.

“I’m also able and pleased that we have placed orders for the equipment and furniture,” he said. “A significant amount of money would be spent over the course of the next couple of weeks. In fact some $16 million thereabout would have been spent in the last week, and we’ve placed orders, and I might add, most of the orders would have been placed through Bahamian suppliers.

“In addition to the equipment, some 86 persons would have already been offered employment for the Critical Care Block. We expect to receive confirmation; we are already getting confirmation on acceptance of those offers, so we are very advanced in the commissioning of the critical care block.”

With regards to the penalties some nurses would face after abandoning their duties in support of this week’s strike, Mr Brown said the PHA was “still in the process” of determining “the appropriate action to take” against these individuals.

“We have to look at due process, and, yes, we have received those reports, but I think it’s important for us to investigate them, and following the investigation we are then in a position to make the determination consistent with the laws and the industrial agreement and the PHA rules with regards to the next steps,” he said.

The new block will have 18 recovery beds, 20 private intensive care unit rooms, a central sterile department, administrative facilities, new laboratory facilities and a new main entrance that is disability friendly.

It was initially expected to be open no later than June 2013; it was later said that it would open four months later, in October of that year.