 The panel, the discussion, an objective and impartial view of the issues of interest to you. The nation beat is on now. Good day viewers. On September 9th, 2009, a fire which started in the surgical ward of the St. Jules Hospital ravaged a number of sections of that hospital. When the dust settled, the south was left without a functioning hospital. Free families lost loved ones in that fire. A few days later, the operations of the hospital were relocated to the George Audalem National Stadium and have remained there as we speak. In 2010, former Prime Minister Hon. Stevenson King announced that the government would repair the damaged surgical wards and other parts that were damaged during that fire. There was a change of government in November 2011 and the new Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony decided to embark on a more comprehensive rehabilitation of the St. Jules Hospital on the original OJ site. There were some challenges along the way, but in 2014 the government secured a loan from the Taiwanese government for US $20 million. The general elections of June 2016 saw the election of a new government. The progress of that hospital was deemed to have placed the facility at that point at approximately 80% completion. Work on the original buildings was immediately halted and in 2019 the government announced that it had decided not to pursue the completion of the original buildings and opted to construct a new building to house the hospital. By the time the general elections of 2021 were called the progress on that new building was woefully nowhere near being ready to accommodate the transition from the George Odellum National Stadium back to the OJ site. In an attempt to bring a final resolution to the issue of a proper functioning hospital to the south of the island, the Cabinet of Ministers in August 2021 approved the appointment of a committee to review options for the completion of the completion and commissioning of the St. Jude's Hospital and to advise the Cabinet on the feasibility and requirements for an immediate move and transfer of operations from the George Odellum National Stadium to the original OJ site. The review committee recommended to the government that the completion of the ground floor of the new building should not be pursued. They also recommended that the completion of phase one of the original St. Jude's buildings be pursued and that the physiotherapy and dialysis buildings also be incorporated into the St. Jude's Hospital complex. The final recommendations from the review committee was to reconstitute the project steering committee to ensure that the principal stakeholders are also afforded an opportunity to contribute to the decision-making process moving forward. On November 1, 2020, the government recommends construction activities at the St. Jude's Hospital reconstruction site. The first component of those works included clearing of the buildings and the installation of a perimeter chain link fence. The project has now moved into a very critical phase where construction activity is moving full steam ahead. Over the next hour, we shall be discussing the St. Jude's Hospital rehabilitation project. I am your host, Silas Wilson, the Liaison Officer for the St. Jude's Hospital reconstruction project employed with the Ministry of Economic Development. My guests today are the Chairperson for the St. Jude's Hospital reconstruction project, Stering Committee, Mr. Michael Williams and Mr. Jeffrey McKee, an architect by profession and one of many technical persons employed with the firm Caribbean Consulting Engineers Limited. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Let me first start with Mr. Williams. In August 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed a review committee to examine the options available to the government and to present a recommendation to the government on how to proceed on completing and operationalizing the hospital. Kindly explain to our listeners how did we get to where we are today, what factors were taken into account in determining a move to the original buildings and not the new building which was started back in 2019. I'm happy to be here today to provide some insights into the reconstruction of St. Jude's Hospital. To answer your question, as you rightly stated, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed a review committee to look into the project and to advise on the way forward. And the review committee came back with the recommendation to continue work on phase one, what we call phase one, which is the project which was started in 2010 under Honorable Stevenson King, continued by Dr. Anthony. And now the recommendation was to go back to these structures and to complete them. First of all, the committee examined phase one and phase two, which is what is the new structure that was put up. And in doing the examination, they discovered that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the structures. Their sound, they were well-built, and there was considerable improvement in the structures in terms of the work that had been done up to August 2016. They also discovered that in terms of costing, it was in a much more state of readiness for completion. So it would have caused the government a lot less to go into that structure. And therefore, based on that, they felt that it would be money well-spent to continue the reconstruction project which was started as phase one and to complete it. So there was nothing wrong with the buildings, with their sound. They were in a much more advanced stage of preparedness and financially it would serve the people of St. Louis and the taxpayers' money better because you would have had to spend less money to get it into a state where you could bring back the operations of the hospital to St. Jude's on the side at OJ. So if I'm hearing you correctly, the prime minister did not wake up one morning and decided that the government was going to attempt to complete the original structures which were started back in 2010. There was a lot of professional expertise that went into the review committee. Absolutely, absolutely. As you pointed out, the cabinet appointed a team of professionals. On that team, we had two architects. We had someone involved in construction management. We had quantity severe. We had procurement experts. They were quite a wide range of expertise in terms of the sort of expertise required to make a good assessment of the buildings, of the project and what was required. So it wasn't a situation where the cabinet of ministers decided on their own. A review committee comprising of professionals including structural engineer and as I said, a number of other disciplines were the ones who made an examination of the two structures. They looked at the entirety of what was going on and the recommendation was made to cabinet that it would be a very prudent decision to move ahead with the continuation of phase one. Okay. One of the recommendations from the review committee was also the reconstitution of the project steering committee. You are currently the chair of that committee. Tell us what are the parameters, the responsibilities of the project steering committee. Well, the project steering committee was again appointed by the cabinet of ministers to ensure that the project gets the proper guidance going forward. It's not a situation where a minister of health or a minister of economic development would decide what has to be done. A steering committee is a national committee that advises and guides us to how the project is going to be implemented. So at the end of the day, the people of San Lucia would get the benefit of the best facility. So it comprises of representative from the Ministry of Health, the office of the prime minister, St. Jude Hospital technical team, St. Jude Hospital management, and other professionals who are involved in the health sector but are not necessarily working for the government. So it brings together expertise from the hospital, from the Ministry of Health, from persons in the health sector, and office of the prime minister, as well as representative of the Ministry of Economic Development, who is the agency, the government agency responsible for executing and implementing the project. So when you have that combination of expertise, guiding the project and ensuring that the finances are in place, ensuring that the transition plan to move from the stadium is in place, to ensure that the works are going on properly, this is what you need to guide a project. A project cannot be guided by one person or two persons simply making decisions. So far, what has the project's territory committed to be able to consider as far as moving the project forward? Well, we work closely with the Ministry of Economic Development, the executive agency. We ensure that the right processes are followed. For instance, we have been able to get the consultant engineer supervisor appointed on the project as consultant to the government. We ensure that that process is in place because when you have a project of that magnitude, even though you have the project committee, the project units in the Ministry of Economic Development managing the project, government needs to have consultants supervising engineering firm on the ground as its eyes and its ears to ensure that whatever is being done is being done correctly according to plan because you would engage contractors but you need expertise that could supervise the contractors for you. So we have brought the engineering firm to supervise the work and to advise the government. We have been able to ensure that the transition plan is being developed by the San Judo hospital so that at the right time when the works are completed there will be a smooth transition from the stadium into the new facility. We ensure that the stakeholders in fact the users of the facility San Judo hospital we ensure that they are fully engaged in visiting the facility ensuring that it is being done in a manner that suits them that they engage all along the way in consultation that if there's slight changes to be made that they participate in the process and that a facility is not built for them and handed over to them but they were fully engaged in all the steps in terms of the actual construction and advise it on changes and what is necessary for them because at the end of the day they are the end users. So our job is to ensure the financing is in place the supervision is in place the transition is in place the the actual facility is being built in a way that it satisfies it satisfies the needs of the end users the nurses the hospitals, the technicians the management of San Judo hospital so we bring all these units together on an ongoing basis and to also make sure that the project moves along in a time frame that we can deliver to the people who share a reasonable time. Okay, you did make mention of the engagement of a consulting engineering firm to provide supervision for the project. We have with us today Mr. Maki from Caribbean Consulting Engineers back in May of this year the government officially engaged Caribbean Consulting Engineers as the supervision agency on the San Judo project. Mr. Maki tell us a little bit about CCE Good, thank you Mr. Wilson and thank you viewers CCE is an acronym for Caribbean Consulting Engineers at St. Lucia Limited so we're an established company here in St. Lucia we've been around for a couple of years we have a very good solid track record successfully delivering various projects over the years we have served many governments industrial and commercial clients locally and regionally as well we some of the projects that we have worked on includes the rehabilitation of the polyclinic along with all the similar projects within the the health industry that serve the people of St. Lucia and also some in the region as well Before we go for our commercial break tell us quickly what is the scope of the assignment that your company has as it relates to the San Judo hospital project As it relates to the San Judo hospital project some of the main objectives of our assignment is to provide a complete set of four construction drawings along with a set of general technical specifications include bill of quantities condition of contracts to be included in the submitting of documents for the procurement of works and with the assignment consists of scoping and carrying out supplemental services necessary field investigations and review and revision of architectural, structural and mechanical engineering electrical drawings all of which is required for the completion bring the institution to full completion and full use all designs are to confirm international health standards appropriate billing codes construction standards and practices to ensure adequate purpose and mitigate against natural disasters okay all right of course we now break for a commercial but when we come back I want to ask you Mr. McKee part of your assignment has to do with design review and we know that you have done a significant amount of that in the last few months we will discuss what it is that you have uncovered so far in your design review where are we at this point in time and we'll segue of course into a critical aspect of the project which is ensuring that we comply with the laws of San Lucia in that we make a submission to the development control authority and we get the requisite permission that is required for us to move with the project so we now take a commercial break we'll be back in a couple minutes with you the the ministry of agriculture fisheries food security and rural development is placing heavy emphasis on the concept of food security it's our prosperity our future the cocoa sector enhancement project CSEP is targeting the rehabilitation of at least 201 acres of cocoa and the expansion of at least 294 acres it protects against main diseases like blackboard and witches broom and pests like rodents it secures the appropriate enabling environment to advance the sector to learn more about the cocoa sector enhancement project the city's contact project coordinator at 459-7003 welcome back viewers today we are here having a discussion on the San jules hospital rehabilitation project my guests are mr michael will use attached to the St. Jude's Hospital Rehabilitation Project. Before the break, I did mention to you that we would explore part of your scope, design review. A lot has happened in terms of reviewing the designs for St. Jude's. In order to ensure that we comply with the law, a submission has to be made to the Developmental Control Authority. And in so doing, we need to ensure that we have met all of the expectations of the DCA to ensure that the requisite permission is obtained, that the facility can be safe for the users, as well as the customers, the hospital clients. Tell us so far what it is that you have covered in your design review. How has that gone? Where are we at this point in terms of our application that is supposed to go forward to the DCA very soon? OK. During the design review, we analyze the original design to detail in detail to ensure that everything meets the project requirements, regulations, and any specific client needs. The purpose is to identify any areas that may require modification, improvement, or adjustments to ensure successful implementation of the project. I believe with effective communication collaboration among the project team, us architects, clients, other stakeholders, we contribute to the successful of the design review phase by addressing any significant changes required from the original design promptly so we can ensure project aligns with the objectives and stakeholders' expectations. As it relates to DCA, this project is going through the phase that any other project is required during construction, as in submission to the various referral agencies prior to submission to DCA. When we refer to referral agencies, we're talking about the fire department. It's important that we get approval from the fire department as it relates to, in case of an emergency, as we know this based on history from the syndrome hospital, this is very important to mitigate or to prevent any disaster that would have happened before. So when we get approval from the fire department, we also get approval from the health department as it relates to the treatment of sewer, et cetera, sewer waste, et cetera. Also, from the central solid waste management, we also need approval for that so that they are aware of the proposal for waste treatment, garbage collection, et cetera. And there's also the need for approval from the Ministry of Infrastructure as it relates to traffic management during construction and post-construction as well. Currently, we have received approval from the Ministry of Infrastructure and the solid waste. We are awaiting feedback from the fire department and also from the Ministry of Health, which we expect to get the end of this week into next week. With these approvals from the fire agencies, in addition to for application for DCA, all joints, architectural, structural, whatever joints required, will be submitted to DCA for their approvals, for their review, and also for their approval. Once that is done, then the project will be given for OK to proceed or to continue on site for completion. That's very good news. But I just want to ask you very quickly before we leave the issue of the Development Financial Authority. During your design review, were there significant changes which had to be effected to the original designs for the hospital? What did you find that there were significant variations that had to be accommodated? There we had to make some minor changes that is due to the change of the scope, the general scope of the project as in direction from the government as to the direction which the project, the billions, certain billions which are going to be used within the project. We had to make a few minor modifications to specifically the east wing and the west wing to accommodate the use of some of the billions that previously had been pushed aside. But then these changes are minor which would not cause any major delay in proceeding with completing the hospital. So I just wanted to add to what Simakiya said. I don't want to leave the impression that work is going on without this year approval. There are four buildings with this year approval and we've been working on these buildings, why we are with the final approval on the other buildings. So the work has been ongoing in terms of how we progress on the west wing and how we progress on the physiotherapy and dialysis building as well as the laundry and maintenance building. Full this year approval were granted for these four buildings and that is where we are being. So the work that has been progressing so far has been on those buildings. So what Mr. Makiya is talking about is the balance of the project which is the west wing. The west wing and the surgical wing also. And the west wing and the surgical wing. And this is what he's talking about where side modifications had to be made. The new submissions had to be made to DCA and this is what we're waiting. So when he's speaking about final approval he's talking about that aspect of the work. But the work that has been going on I don't want to make it absolutely clear that those buildings have had full DCA approval. But that affords us the perfect opportunity to segue into another part of the discussion. Depending on who you listen to one would get the impression that the new building which has started in 2019 would have formed the entire hospital complex which is very incorrect. There are a number of other buildings that would have also formed part of the hospital complex irrespective of whether that new building was what was going to form the main hospital complex. So tell us about what would the entire complex Mr. Williams look like when St. Jude's is completed. Okay, so if you look at the layout of the entire hospital we are talking about, I mean initially we were talking about 14 buildings and we are back to the same 14 buildings. What the new, so the impression has been given that phase one you had a lot of buildings scattered all over the place and by going into phase two which is one huge building you would have eliminated the need for all these other buildings. That is not the facts. The facts are completely different to that. The new building which was being pursued by the last administration for it to function as a hospital would need 12 other buildings, the services of 12 other buildings. All it would have done was you would have brought into one structure the facilities on the west wing and the surgical wing. So basically it just would take, absolve what was being done in two other buildings and they are continuous buildings, they are linked to each other and you would have brought it into that. But all the rest of the, all the other 12 buildings which form part of the compound would have been part of the new facility. In fact, so much so that the west wing, the west wing which is part of the old structure, you would have had to use the administrative building upstairs and the kitchen downstairs which would have created a challenge because there's a rule passing between it. So when you prepare food in the kitchen you have to cross a rule to take it across into that new structure if that was being used as the hospital. So in fact, the layout of the hospital remains the same. Two buildings were destroyed, the physiotherapy and the dialysis building, they were destroyed and they were replaced by two other buildings for the same purpose. They're just bigger buildings. So those two buildings will be parts of phase one which is the structures that were there before. But on the compound you have a number of other buildings which has nothing to do with providing services to patients. You have the ambulance units and the monitoring units that would still be in operation. You have the volunteers quarters. You have the maintenance building, maintenance and laundry. You have the mug. You have the gift shop. The chapel. The chapel, the warehouse building, all these buildings which are not part of the new structure. But there are some other buildings which provide other services to them. Yeah, but they are part of the facility. Like the oxygen rooms and the pump rooms, etc. They are back in use as part of the original phase one, but they would have been part of any new structure that was done. The structure on its own, I don't want to use the derogatory term of the box, but that huge, humongous structure is not a standalone hospital. It just brings in the services on the beds component of the hospital, the surgical medical and the pediatric section of the hospital where you have beds. This is all that would have been in that building, but all the other supporting services, the same existing buildings would have had to provide the same thing. So essentially what you're saying is that the south wing, the new building, would have only eliminated the use for the east wing and the surgical wing. That's all. And all of the other buildings that are currently on site would have still formed the complex that would have been used in the hospital. It cannot have existed out. It would still be required. All the other buildings that have been required. So the impression being given that there are a number of buildings and you build that one and then you don't need them, that is not the case. And I think it is also important to state if I'm not mistaken that the east wing and the central surgical wing would be the buildings where all patient services are going to be delivered from. Absolutely. So the notion that if one comes to the hospital, they have to move from between anywhere one and 28 buildings to get services is also incorrect. No, no, it's incorrect because these are not services that patients have to access in those buildings. So you know, you have a warehouse that's for storage stuff. You have a maintenance and laundry building. You have volunteer quarters. You have a mug. So take us back to November 2022, 1st of November when the Prime Minister intimated that work would have begun on the site. Tell us what has happened between November and today, where we are now. Okay, work started on the site on November. Cleaning up of the facility because if you recall, that phase one had been left untouched for over five years from 2016. It was never, no work was done on it during the last administration for five years. And remember, the new administration came in on until November last year, no work had been done on it. So you're talking for six years. So the building was, it looked really bad when you went inside of it, you know, rats, bats had taken over. But the structure, there is nothing wrong with the structure. It looked totally unclean. So we had to clean it and sanitize it. So a contract was given, a basic contract under the supervision of the Ministry of Infrastructure to clean the facility, clean the compound, clean inside the building, sanitize it, and to fence the compound. Because there's a hospital, there's a hospital facility, you need to fence it. You need to protect it for security reasons. So that initial contract included cleaning, sanitizing, inside the buildings and the compound, cleaning up the compound and fencing and closing the compound. That was completed within two months. So that was started in November. By mid-January, it was completed, okay? So that was that, okay? So that was the initial contract. And as I said, there were four buildings with approval from DCA. So we started some work in doing some inside work in these four buildings at the moment. So that's what has been done. Maki, I just want to go to one thing quickly before we go for a commercial break. Tell us what MEPs would entail because from what we know now at this stage of the project, the buildings that we are talking about, the East Wing and the Central Surgical Wing, all is mainly required, is the installation of MEPs into those buildings. What does that really mean to the labor on the streets? Okay, MEP stands for Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing, basically what MEP stands for. And these are very important aspects for any project, any construction project. And especially for some project the magnitude of hospital, the St. George Hospital is very important. From the previous construction that have been going on, there have been some MEP works going on. But with this current phase, these mechanical, electrical and plumbing works had to be reviewed, both design and the actual physical infrastructure work on the site because of the time period that these items have been there, not being used as they should have, water or anything would have gotten into these conduits and pipes, et cetera. So all these need to be reviewed and maybe some had to be replaced. So it's very important that these things done, especially when it comes to the surgical wards, we need to make sure all our plumbing, electrical and mechanical pipes and everything works as it should for the hospital. So that has been, so as well as we may have much of a design work architecturally to do, we had to make sure that all these other, this aspect of the project is up to function as issued for our future. Thank you very much for that. We are now due for a break, but when we come back, we shall explore the issue of financing for the St. Jude's Hospital Project. There has been some very interesting and important developments where financing is concerned. So when we get back after the break, we shall deliver the issue of financing to complete the project. The panel, the discussion, an objective and impartial view of the issues of interest to you. Nation Beat is on now. What's in the food you're eating? Do you really even know? All the chemicals and hormones used to accelerate their growth. All the artificial flavoring, sweeteners and colors too. We consume and we don't spare a thought for the damage that they'll do. The damage that they do. Think about the children. Think about the children. Homes are not the solution. Use organic and John. Excessive agrochemical use, additives and genetically modified foods are harmful to health and the environment. Join the Good Food Revolution. Grow, buy and consume organic. A message from Ryan St. Lucia and the Ministry of Sustainable Development with funding from the GEF Small Grants Program, UNDP. The Good Food. Welcome back to Nation Beat. My guests today are Mr. Michael Williams, the Chairperson for the St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project Starring Committee. And Mr. Jeffrey McKee, Architect, Employee of Caribbean Consulting Engineers. The ones providing the supervision oversight for the St. Jude's Reconstruction Project. The funding required for the completion of St. Jude's has been a very difficult issue. Previous governments have made somewhat piecemeal attempts at raising the resources required for the completion of the project. We have had some loans in the past but never been sufficient to complete the project. In August of this year, however, the government signed a funding agreement with the Saudi Fund for Economic Development, which would see us complete the hospital project. Mr. Williams, take us through how we were able to get the funding that we now have available to us and tell us what the conditions, what the stipulations are of that money. Okay, so before I even get to that, I just want to elaborate a little on my initial point about one of the reasons why phase one, the continuation of phase one was important was because of the cost involved in making a choice between which one to proceed. That was one of the reasons. It would have cost, so on phase two, $118 million was already spent on the bottom, on the building, that's what we call the box. But just to complete the bottom, to bring people into the bottom, you'd have had to spend another 70 million dollars just on the bottom. In fact, our contract was given 11 days before general elections for 72 million, 74, they're about 66 and 62 million dollars to complete the bottom floor and to bring in, so that it would be in a state of readiness. That doesn't include equipment, doesn't include fixtures, it doesn't include furniture. That's just to bring it into a state of readiness, just the bottom, so we're talking 72 million dollars and our contract was actually prepared for that, for a particular company. We realized that you're not talking about computing the balance phase one of the box, so you just deal with phase two. So if you bring people into phase one and you have people in phase one, you have a pop into the bottom floor, you have a problem dealing with people, what's going on at the top, why do you have people at the bottom? Sit people at the bottom, okay? We had a rough estimate just to seal the top because there's no proper roofing, just to seal the top and the cladding around it. In fact, not the cladding, just to seal the top to ensure that you protect it from rain is another 16 million, so I'm talking about 72 million to bring the bottom and 16 just to seal the top and I'm not talking about work inside the second floor. That's 88 million. So when we look at what it would cost to commission or to bring the phase one into completion, we did not have an actual estimate on it, but clearly it would cost a lot less, okay? So that was one of the reasons. Going back to where we are today, as you rightly said, never before has total financing to complete any one phase of the hospital has been secured. The hospital has been built. As you get funding, you move along. We know how it started, it was an accident, we had a destruction and therefore there was no dedicated funding. Dr. Anthony did his best to secure 20 million from the Taiwanese. 10 million had been drawn on. Another 10 million US was outstanding, which was available. And probably with that 10 million and another 10 million US, we could have completed phase one, but it was not done. The 10 million plus another 20 million US, 30 million was spent on the new structure along with other monies because the 30 million US is about 81 million, but yet 118 was spent, so therefore the difference was spent from local budgeting. But the point is just to do the bottom floor, you needed another 70 million. So the loan now for the 201 million EC, 75 million US secured from the Saudis is for 20 years, five year period before you start to pay, and then you have 20 years to pay. So in essence, you have a 25 year loan. You have five years before you start to pay, 20 years to pay, 2% interest rate with a significant provision that if you were to have some disaster happening in the country, there's a clause in the law, in the agreement that make provision for delaying payments or putting payments on pause, but you are not under pressure to continue the payment. That money will complete phase two. It will equip it, the hospital, furniture, fixtures, equipment, train people to operate the equipment, and also it will rehabilitate the stadium for the government or the Ministry of Economic Development to hand it over back to the Ministry of Sports or the Sports People of St. Lucia. So that money makes provision for everything that is needed and it is the first time that money has been secured to ensure that the project is bought to finality. You bring it to total completion. You equip it and you also put the stadium back in a condition that it can be handed over to the Sports Fraternity in St. Lucia. Before I ask you that very important question about reassuring St. Lucia's that the hospital will be completed, there is also one important component that has come with the Saudi funding and that is climate proofing the entire facility. Tell us what briefly that would entail, given that climate change is a real issue that we can see right here every day now. Okay, I want to tell you that. Yeah, okay, when we fought to elements that we assist in the climate change, we were talking about the use of solar energy, join energy source of power using the area of the sun. So part of this project includes the use of solar panels as an alternative means of energy source for the facility. Not only to assist in the electrical power, but also in heating and water, which is a must for hospitals. We're also looking at ways in which we could harvest water harvesting techniques. So part of what we're doing now on the current St. Julius Hospital includes provision for water harvesting and drawing energy from the sun, alternative means of energy, which will benefit the facility in the long run in terms of cost or electrical power, et cetera. Okay, thank you very much for that. Mr. Julius, I think it would be remiss of us not to leave here this afternoon today, sorry, and not telling the people of the south, more particularly, but the country as a whole, because the St. Jude's Hospital Reconstruction Project has been a very painful subject over almost a decade and a half now. A number of administrations have come and gone and the hospital still remains incomplete. The nurses and doctors who offer the services from the stadium have worked on the very trying circumstances. Tell us the people of this country in very clear language what the government's objective is in terms of completing the hospital. I'm not sure that you can give us a timeframe today, but reassure the people of the country that the hospital is number one, number two, and number three priority for the government of St. Louisian. Okay, Mr. Wilson, the prime minister has on many occasions extended his heartfelt apology to the nurses, the doctors, the workers at the hospital for working for so long under these difficult conditions and his appreciation for the work that they have done to keep the services, the health services available to the public in the south. And I want to use this opportunity to please and record the appreciation of the government for the staff of St. Jude's, everybody who have been involved in working under these conditions. I want to assure you that for the first time, the funding is available, the structures are in place, the plans are in place to ensure that we complete St. Jude Hospital once and for all. So while I will not be able to give you an exact timeframe, I want to assure you that it will not be long from now that within months, not years, maybe a little over a year, but certainly not years. And I'm saying so, confident that it will not take us two years, it might take a year, a little over a year for us to move into a completed St. Jude Hospital from St. Jude, from the stadium. And we will have a properly functioning hospital and that day we will come when we will open that facility for the people of the south and St. Lucia in general. But the time is near because all the different elements that are needed to make it work are in place and we are moving very fast to get it done. Are you also assuring the public that the quality of service that will be offered from the St. Jude Hospital on the OJ side would be as best as you can find anywhere else in the world? Absolutely. This St. Jude has had a track record for excellent service. It has been affected by operating out of a stadium. They've done their best. We are providing a top of the line facility to go back into. And a hospital is as good as its medical professionals in as much as you need certain pieces of equipment to get the work done. The excellent service that has been provided by the professionals at St. Jude will continue but it will be done in an environment if it's more conducive to providing that service. So I want to assure you that when the new facility is open, we will get top class medical services from that hospital. Final thoughts from you, Mr. Burkey? No. Well to say too, which are the fact that soon the new hospital or the St. Jude Hospital will be completed. Fully functional with all the requirements and needed to have everything in place for everything. Final thoughts from you, Mr. Williams? Well I just, again, I just want to assure the public that the longer we take the, we'll soon be with us. And that we should all be confident that the government will deliver on its promise to open the new facility during this term of office but it will be not towards the end of the term. It will be somewhere not too long from now. And I am very sure all St. Lucien's would welcome the news that the hospital is, the opening of the hospital is imminent, a lot sooner than a lot of people believe that it is. It has been my pleasure having the two of you here today on Nation Beats. It has been a pleasure bringing to the country the nation a very important update on the status of the St. Jude Hospital reconstruction project. As I said earlier, this project has been around for a decade and a half almost. And that's a long time behind this stretch of measure. We are very happy that the government has made significant progress in completing the hospital and as my guests have said to you today, that the government is sparing no effort in ensuring that it returns complete medical services to the people of the south through the completion of the St. Jude Hospital at the original site in Mojé. Thank you very much gentlemen for having agreed to be my panelist here today. Thank you very much St. Lucia. The panel, the discussion, an objective and impartial view of the issues of interest to you. Nation Beat is on now.