Plans underway to rebuild in July

May 28, 2011 News

St Joseph Mercy Hospital (SJMH) that was partially destroyed one year ago is set to commence building a new structure this July. The cost is set at $380M. And in order to acquire this money some fundraising activities are to be planned.
This was disclosed at a press conference held in the compound of the SJMH on Wednesday.
An early fire last May destroyed the oldest wing of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Kingston, Georgetown, erasing about 80 years of history. While the destruction of the original hospital building is significant all patients were safely evacuated as were all medical staffers.
The duration of the rebuilding of the new structure is set to take approximately nine to 12 months. However, services will not be disrupted for that duration.
Republic Bank donated $5M to the project while John Fernandes Group donated $6M over a three-year period.
According to Board Member of SJMH, Chris Fernandes, a small committee with experience in hospital management was invited to a two-day workshop that started on May 10, 2010.
He said one of the tasks was to determine what structural changes would be necessary. The hospital had no money and was in financial difficulty.
He said that the first thing which needed to be done was to remove the old wooden building that was totally destroyed by fire. Fernandes said that with insurance claim and with the generous assistance of BK International, Correia Mining and Dyrock Construction the site was cleared promptly at very little cost. The doctors were provided temporary accommodation and the hospital was back in operation after just a few weeks.
“It is our aim to make our hospital once again one of the leading health care providers in Guyana. As a priority, our plan is to have a modern, well equipped Emergency Room with supporting state of the art Operating Rooms /ICU and Recovery Facilities where critically ill patients could be stabilised while being evaluated either for medical evacuation or surgery locally,” Fernandes said.
Commenting on the reconstruction, Fernandes said that $240 million would go for the redesign and refurbishment of the North Wing; $60 million for the Materials Management building and $80 million for additional equipment that is still to be purchased.
However, the Mercy Auxiliary which is the fund raising arm of the hospital has been working hard at raising money. Fernandes said that only recently $10.5million was handed over from efforts that were made last year.
Noting that the Government has already been very generous in allowing the importation of certain construction material VAT free, he said, “We ask that consideration be give to refund of the VAT which we may have to pay on local materials purchased and services paid.
Donations can also be made by way of a deductable Deed of Covenant to the Roman Catholic Bishop in Guyana for the redevelopment of the Mercy Hospital, for example if persons who may wish to donate $3million, can do so $1million per year for three years.
Chairman of SJMH said the fire consumed the Medical Records and the Housekeeping departments, Admission/Discharge Offices, the Chapel, Private Doctors Offices, one of the Operating Rooms, Central Supplies Room, Nursing Services, on call rooms for the Laboratory and Doctors and the Emergency Room.
Fortunately, he said that the losses were financial and material, the quick work of the fire Brigade, staff and our
many friends within the health sector allowed the hospital to re-locate our in- house patients at other facilities, while still maintaining for their care.
However, the architectural loss is one which cannot be replaced since the building was a shining example of our architectural history.
The Chief Executive Officer of the SJMH, Helen Browman, said that three months after the fire the Hospital had resumed normal operations. “We have since been able to replace a number of pieces of equipment destroyed in the fire and have been able to upgrade our X-ray and Laboratory equipment.”
However, she said much thought has gone into the needs of the hospital and finally a plan\s was settled on which represent a phase in the Hospital Improvement Project.
“Our goal is to have a fully refurbished hospital with modern state of the art equipment supplemented by a competent medical team and nursing staff to deliver the best possible health care in the years ahead…Our aim is to continue to work very closely with Minister Ramsammy and officials of the Ministry of Health to play our part in providing support to the National Health Care Programme.”

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