The University of the West Indies (UWI) and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), for a J$60 billion (US$511 million) development programme that will include the expansion of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) from a 500-bed to a 1,000-bed facility.
As part of the expansion project, College Commons, which houses staff of the institution, will be upgraded, and a 100-room hotel will be built to replace the Mona Visitors’ Lodge. A centre for sporting activities, which will comprise a large auditorium to be used for graduation and other events, will also be constructed. It will accommodate between 800 and 1,000 persons.
The expansion will also include the completion of a co-generation plant to supply electricity and to feed the cooling system for the campus.
Principal of the UWI Mona Campus Professor Archibald McDonald said the institution needs now to be in a position to serve the wider region, which is part of its original mandate.
“We have now arrived at a formula whereby the University Hospital can be restructured,” he said, while outlining that other government-run hospitals will benefit from improved offerings at the UHWI.
“This will have all the modern facilities. The government of Jamaica invests a large portion of its budget to the (UHWI); therefore, the University Hospital has to give back to the people of Jamaica. It has to supplement the government’s hospitals, and provide a higher level of care.”
Minister of Health Dr. Fenton Ferguson said the arrangement between the UWI and CHEC should lead to the hospital being on par with the most equipped across the globe.
He said he was satisfied that “the direction (in which) they are going will preserve and protect the most vulnerable within our society, and ensure that health care is not out of the reach of ordinary citizens”.
