Construction of new wing at St. Jude the best option says PM Chastanet

By SNO Staff

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(SNO) — Prime Minister Allen Chastanent has said the construction of a new wing at St. Jude Hospital is the best option the government has to address the health services issues in the southern part of the island.

Addressing the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce last week, he said that option is the cheapest and fastest one and it took the government some nine months to conduct an assessment in order to arrive at that decision.

“We believe that is the best option that we have,” he stated. “We can actually build a facility, cheaper and faster by just building a new wing at that facility and certainly being able to meet the expansion of Vieux Fort.”

He said the project will be a medium to long-term solution to Vieux Fort that will be of international standards.

Chastanet said his government is working hard to bring relief to the workers at St. Jude, which is now located at the George Odlum Stadium, and residents of the south.

“We know the challenges that exist at the stadium and we are working with the staff as best as possible to make them as comfortable as possible,” he stated. “But we recognize and understand the frustration by both the people who are working there as well as the citizens who depend on it. Many of them come from my own constituency, so I get the pressure every time that I go down.”

According to Chastanet, the project has to be done right way.

“I can assure you and I can assure all Saint Lucians that you will be very proud of the development,” he stated.

The hospital was relocated to the stadium after it was destroyed by fire in 2009.



  1. Saint Lucians believe that being a borbolist is very smart thing. That is why they think it is funny when people steal from the government. These jackasses are too darn stupid to understand that everybody pays the price of people taking supplies home from the storehouse or diverting shipments of stones to their new own construction site.

  2. I supported the UWP but they have to get this hospital done or they will be out in a hurry.I hope they are aware of this. WTF IS WRONG.THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR ST.LUCIANS AND PEOPLE COMING TO VISIT AND SPEND MONEY IN THE ISLAND. OMG. GET THE FUCKING HOSPITAL DONE.

  3. Not a too smart PM.

  4. Keep them wondering

    Totally agree. Out of the 25 buildings non can be salvage. We need a new building. How was 81 million arrive at . From the time uwp came to power is just controversy after controversy. When will this madness end. Never ending madness. Nobody seems to be bothered about our debt level.

  5. A new wing ?? And what cost to st Lucians again??? How long the people have to wait look how lo g they have been waiting. This is maddness. This man has put st Lucia in so much debt since coming to office is no joke

  6. Most of the commentators here are wallowing in deep ignorance. Because of distance issues, equipment cost issues we can have basic facilities in key locations and specialized treatment centres in other locations. Healthcare equipment is not cheap.

    With so many clamouring for easy ganja, we had better have drug treatment centres in almost all the health centres around the island. General mental health will definitely see a decline in mental health.

  7. Well the PM had better not use Guy Joseph as contractor. the hospital must meet international standards for a hospital and not several little cottages mix together. Even an ordinary layman like myself understand the importance of wide open spaces within a hospital to facilitate patients and staff and others quick exit and entry. How the fork do several little cottages do that? I hope the PM do a proper consultation with an international team with experience in building a hospital for that wing and not do the marjee that the SLP did. So I hope for our sake and that of future generations we get it right under the UWP. And if we do, let any damn red shirt come with nonsense to me about labour for me to shove them away even more than I do now when i look at the state of the VF hospital.

  8. Meanwhile a third container stacked wing is near in completion at the George Odlum Stadium currently housing the St. Jude Hospital....hmmm

  9. PM thank you for the start.
    I am totally in agreement that we need to move the patients and staff from this hell hole but really and truly the management of St. Jude really have NO RESPECT and APPRECIATION of their staff.
    It is such a shame, but god is good.

    Doctors and Nurses hold tight and continue the good work under such conditions.

  10. Why are not mentioning that the demolition of some of the buildings on the site?

  11. I didn't see an expected completion date. What will be done with what is already there? Why is building a new wing cheaper? Do you have to demolish anything thats there? I think Chastenet is being deliberately vague and that is the opposite of what he needs to do to get our support in this new path.

  12. avaitay.. i think the nation is drunk to not be seeing what those morons in power doing.. after an investigation.. 9 months on and a wing? better than nothing i guess .. all the money finish in DSH

  13. How long will it take to complete the new wing? The existing wings are in such a bad state we can't complete what is already there? This is madness the stadium could have been used as a hospital but the structure which was intended to be the hospital can't be used.

  14. Must be you yes it is his business and mine and yours. Stop bring so ignorant. It is not chastenet, guy, pierre or kenny money building the east wing. Its money borrowed that we, yes u, me and josito mateo and our children and grand children who wil pay back that loan.

  15. josito mateo, shut the f--k up, thats not your dam buisness which contractor that will do the work, they need to put a new wing at that facility for the people, to begin with,

    • no you shut the f-k up you fukcin cunt, its @$*es like you that make them man get away with shit like that, cuz all you idiots either part of the borborl and defending you'll crooked deceitful ways or just damn right stupid and would rather see Lucia turn to Haiti than to Admit them fellas don"t have our interest at heart and continue to every blasted day make irrational, UN-calculated decisions that we the people who can't afford better like them have to pay for, them corrupt crooked politicians just keep on doing the same shit with no regard for anything, how the hell do you justify making a new wing instead of finishing what's already present, since September 2009 that hospital got burnt and neither one of those criminal parties can do anything right to solve the problem, what you fckin fools playing politics for clearly they paying yall to be a part of the problem like ya'll are paying yall to not give a damn, i'm sure you have millions from the st judes fiasco so if you or your family become ill you can go to any other country to receive top notch health care , but people like me cannot afford that so shut the fck up man , fellas so ass they giving Cyril Donnaly to contract such a delicate thing like building a hospital, you dont see is mad men a women we electing into office?, since when Cyril Donnaly know anything about hospital building? where he get the experience from ? Stephenson king approaving anything without checking what the hell he doing, guy joseph and his pirates steal majority of the things bought and the money funded to rebuild the hospital, Labour come into office and instead of making things right just continue with the same shit, then fire Cyril Donnaly and thats the same set of people yall want to vote for , kenny anthony care so much about vfort his constituency and mate could not finish that hospital for the same people he care about so much?, and dats who yall want to defend and vote for?, Every single lucian need their brains shaked up and checked by a qualified brain specialist cuz ZOT MALAD man.

    • In a report the PM commissioned himself stated that the hospital should be completed. Professionals compiled that report and I dare say they were party supporters. So one has to assume now that the PM knows better than these technocrats to now say that building a new wing is the best option? Awa Awa awa

  16. all the 25 buildings cost 97 million now you all building 1 @ a cost of 81 million .awa lucians we doomed



    • Is what is on the ground worth $97 million and is any of it up to standard? Hospitals today are not chicken sheds. Well planned, they have departments and sections with specialized equipment with trained persons, doctors, technicians and nurses to attend to cases that come up. Some may be rare. Some may be common.

      A wise government has to choose some basic provision and some special areas. Specialised provision with preventive healthcare isva lot better than having a white elephant that cannot be funded, maintained and cannot be sustained.

      Saint Lucians are just ro-ro people by and large. They don't think. They refuse to think.

  17. Which contractor will handle this project? Is it Guy Joseph and Fresh start? Why is the PM putting St Lucians into more debt again? Is Chastanet doing this for the sake of Guy? We need answers.


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