Prime Minister Philip "Brave" Davis speaks during a sitting of the House of Assembly on May 15, 2024. Photo: Dante Carrer/Tribune Staff
By KEILE CAMPBELL
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
AFTER many residents packed a town hall on Tuesday to oppose the Davis administration’s plans for a new hospital, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis asked yesterday if “naysayers” are aware of the struggling state of healthcare infrastructure in New Providence.
Mr Davis said “everyone is up in arms” about the construction of a new hospital even though the Princess Margaret Hospital was built “70 years ago” and became “inadequate” as the population grew and “ills continued to plague our country”.
“I know that they are confused,” he said, “and they are baffled because the things that we’re able to do and get done, and they still can’t understand how we’re doing it, but don’t let their confusion blind them to the goal of what we’re trying to achieve and that is to bring relief to our people.”
“When you’re criticising what we’re trying to get done for people, you don’t think our people deserve a state-of-the-art hospital to provide care for them?”
The 50-acre facility will be located off the New Providence Highway between the six-legged roundabout and the Saunders Beach roundabout. The 200-bed speciality hospital will cater to women and children and feature a neonatal unit, imaging services, a morgue, pathology services, and telemedicine.
At a town hall meeting on Tuesday, residents in the surrounding area of North Bethel Highway expressed concern about noise pollution, increased traffic, and declining property values.
Yesterday, former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said he was alarmed that the China Export-Import Bank would fund the hospital.
The funding will come through a 20-year loan at a two per cent interest rate. The project will involve Chinese workers.
Dr Minnis said the hospital was “the wrong project, in the wrong place, with the wrong price, the wrong financing and the wrong workers”.
“The truth is that the Chinese will be calling all the big shots on this project, and any Bahamian workers and perhaps a few small local subcontractors will be window dressing,” he said.
“This is a bad, terrible deal for the Bahamian people. The PLP is selling out the Bahamian people again. How many Chinese workers will build this Chinese hospital in The Bahamas? Since the Bahamian people are paying this loan through their taxes, that means the Bahamian people are paying the salaries of these workers.”
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville emphasised in response that the project will involve “a combination of foreign and Bahamian labour”.
He noted that similar agreements between the government and Chinese contractors are “nothing new to The Bahamas,” adding that previous Free National Movement (FNM) administrations pursued similar arrangements.
Dr Minnis noted the project will be on land owned by private entities like Arawak Homes and questioned how much is being paid for the land.
“The minister of health has said repeatedly that they have some kind of handshake understanding that the government will either pay or swap land with Arawak Homes, but the Bahamian people need to know the answer to this question,” he said.
Dr Darville said the Ministry of Finance is negotiating to acquire the land.
National Security Minister Wayne Monroe said Chinese-centred criticism amounted to xenophobia.
“The United States Treasury owes the Chinese $797.7 billion,” he said. “The UK foreign debt is owned 15 per cent by China. And, in fact, the chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, as long ago as 2014, was issuing actual debt in Chinese currency. So this device of trying to dangle xenophobia, which is really a populist stance, isn’t really becoming.”
Mr Munroe said the administration asked the US Export-Import Bank to fund the project, but that organisation “didn’t come up with anything that could be acceptable.”
He added: “We asked all of our friends, and at the end of the day, we got the best rate with a five-year holiday on payments upon completion.”
“This cry to xenophobia is misplaced. Marco City says, you know, you have to have greater greater aspirations. It’s all right to have aspirations, you know, talks about social advancement, changing a corner. It’s very good to have high and lofty aspirations. At some point, however, the rubber must meet the road. Thinking must be transformed into doing. The journey of a million miles begins with one step.”
Comments
Sickened 6 months, 1 week ago
Does this fool have the brain power to comprehend what the criticisms are? Obviously not! Even a 10 year old child in The Bahamas knows horror stories about our health care system and especially PMH. Of course everyone wants better facilities. DUH!!! This fella isn't getting enough oxygen while he's flying a high in the sky every other day. His security team need to check the O2 levels in this donkey's private jets.
ThisIsOurs 6 months, 1 week ago
"Philip “Brave” Davis asked yesterday if “naysayers” ar.. I know that they are confused,” he said, “and they are baffled..."
This is not a leader.
The correct response would be to allay fears, not to make those in opposition public enemy number one. And having sat as a part of the official opposition in this country, Mr Davis should be well aware that the story we are told from Parliament, very often has layers and layers of what we're not told.
The Bahamian people are correct to take their fate in th eff ir own hands and ask what for the meaning of "the", "is", "should", "would", "may" and on and on. We have been bamboozled over and over again.
Please ask Jerome Fitzferald again why he couldnt tell cancer patients in Old Trail that theyd been bathing in toxic gas for years
ThisIsOurs 6 months, 1 week ago
"Minister Dr Michael Darville emphasised in response that the project will involve “a combination of foreign and Bahamian labour”.
Nobody believes this. Not the way Darville wants us to interpret it. Recall that John Pinder couldnt even tell us if 30% of the labour at the Pointe was Bahamian. And for the majority of the project, there were clearly no Bahamians with exception of the security guard
moncurcool 6 months, 1 week ago
So the minister of national security response is that everyone else borrowing form the Chinese, so we do it do? How dumb of a response is that. If everyone else blows up their country then we do it to?
The PM is really a bafoon. Bahamian people are baffled how you all are not able to get medical treatment right with PMH, but want to build a $290 million dollar hospital through a loan, and we know first we will be saddled with increased debt for a hospital you'll will not be able to get medical right for either.
If you cant get PMH right, why should we believe building a new hospital will get medical right?
You right. The Bahamian people are baffled by the incompetence of government and your unwillingness to answer questions in the House of Assembly.
birdiestrachan 6 months, 1 week ago
Not too long ago. Doc Minnis was taking a tour for a site to build a hospital doc we remember now you are against a hospital for the Bahamian people. Concerned for the owners of Arawak homes but not about his post office deal the shipping port or the cruise port the same famalies shame on the doc he does care for⁵ the average Bahamian
ThisIsOurs 6 months, 1 week ago
Nobody is "against" a hospital, just as no one was "against" us hosting Carifta. What we saw however that left to their own devices money gets spent to tune of millions on completely unnecessary and unrelated items. The Carifta LOC spent 6million in excess on a meet that was last costed at 500,000. That is what the questions are about, are we getting quality and value for money and are we sure we wont build this thing and end up with a building that cant be used for decades.. like the national security building. Have they planned properly and exercised their fiduciary duty to assure us of that? Seeing as they cant even answer a question about traffic
birdiestrachan 6 months, 1 week ago
Thank God doc Minnis gone the rocks put in the road that contributed to the life of a young woman. At least him and the sands agree on this they do not care for poor people
Sickened 6 months, 1 week ago
I'll respond in kind to your ridiculous comment. Blue moon tides in painting trees tik tok post reply.
rosiepi 6 months, 1 week ago
Does the PM think he can compare the US debt owned by Chinese to our own? Let’s get the facts on the table, America’s GDP in 2022 was $25.44 trillion.
The Bahamas economy's tied to tourism, with one good hurricane away from disaster. Don’t allow this snake any purchase.
Dr Rolle the head of the Bahamas Medical Association made an excellent observation given that neither she or any other hospitalists knew anything of this venture- who will staff a new hospital when there isn’t the nurses, doctors and health technicians to staff Doctors or PMH??
ExposedU2C 6 months, 1 week ago
Stumpy Davis has conveniently forgotten that corrupt PLP governments since July 10, 1973 are responsible for the lion's share of the failed policies, waste, fraud and outright theft that has left our country's entire public health sector in a horrifyingly dysfunctional and crippled state.
And Stumpy Davis has the temerity and gall to accuse Bahamians, who are genuinely concerned about the outrageous cost and proposed ridiculous location of the new hospital, as being naysayers when he is in fact nothing but a denier. He should be telling the ChiComs we don't want or need any of their debt trap loans that will only benefit the ChiComs at the end of the day.
TalRussell 6 months, 1 week ago
Seems rather than preparing for battle against the RedShirts' Movement - There's a growing Movement of Skepticism about premiership itself. --- Yes?
John 6 months, 1 week ago
Will this be like the Central Bank where plans were scrapped at the last minute and millions lost? The point is with every project there will have to be trade offs. And one of the variables that may be lost but never recovered is time. There are also applications that give numerical values to all the variables: positive numbers to positive variables and negative values to negative impacts like noise and traffic congestion. Then the app will say how positive the project is or how negative it will be and should not be build.
John 6 months, 1 week ago
Again once this project gets started and steel in in the ground. Government should focus on dividing PMH into three zones ( excluding the section that was completed under the Hubert Ingraham Administration. A detail plan for zone one can be drawn up and once the new hospital is completed the entire section of zone one can be torn down and reconstruction started. Adding additional floors to create more space. Then plans for zone two can be completed as zone one nears completion and demolition and construction began when it is completed. Same for zone three. If adjacent property is vacant or available it can be included in the plans. So in 10-12 years, PMH can be transformed into a full, brand new state of the art hospital and emergency center. And since it will be done in stages there will the cost will be spread over a 10-13 year period rather than in just one budget. And unlike having to construct a brand new hospital and relocate the size of the construction project will br in three phases and reduce the chances if high costs overruns or unbearable delays
Dawes 6 months, 1 week ago
See stop questioning them. They have our best interests at heart. And for our best interest them being able to go to the US for medical care is vitally important. That way they can come back and tell us more about what we will have.
carltonr61 6 months, 1 week ago
It is really troubling that some Bahamians are fing fault at this historical progress. We need we need it we need it. If the private sector doctors where to build the hospital then my lord the screams. We should thank God.
Twocent 6 months, 1 week ago
If we HAD OUR OWN BEST INTERESTS AT HEART and we took our health seriously we would not need doctors and hospitals in the excessive way we do now. Funds would have been there for upgrading infrastructure and investing in modern technology and skill-sets as we prospered under a healing, and therefore prosperous, nation. But NO….we want to gluttonously feed our wants, greedily obtain our desires and lazily disregard all that is good for us. We have allowed ourselves to become needy, vulnerable, pawns to systems, like debt and the WHO, that are intrinsically designed to enslave us, suck the life out of us, and dispose of us.
ExposedU2C 6 months, 1 week ago
It was Pindling and the PLP party that opened our country up to the fast food chain restaurants starting with Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC). The importing of that piece of Americana has taken a most sickening toll on the health of our people.
sheeprunner12 6 months, 1 week ago
Davis, Darville & Munroe are missing the main point.
PMH is not fully staffed due to shortages of nurses, doctors and allied health services. Fix that first.
PMH physical space is not fully renovated or furnished to be fully functional. Fix that second.
So, why build another white elephant that will be under utilized and understaffed???? ...... Foolishness
But, the deceptive New Day politicians believe that promises & shiny new toys will get them re-elected in 2026 ....... and Bahamians may fall for this ruse.
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