 The symbolic handover ceremony took place on the grounds of the Respiratory Hospital where the Millennium Heights Medical Complex, MHMC, will be responsible for the delivery of secondary care services. Secondary care is one of three health services that will be provided at the soon-to-be multi-purpose medical complex that will replace the Victoria Hospital, also known as the Respiratory Hospital. The new facility is being developed under the theme one-person three services to include primary health services, urgent health care, and a secondary care facility. Minister for Health, Wellness, and Elderly Affairs, Honourable Mortgage of Artists, said the government is taking a people-centred approach in all aspects of development. He said the goal is to increase access to quality health care. And at every opportunity, the team seeks to improve the quality of care. At the Millennium Heights Medical Complex, you heard Dr. James yourself, and you realized, if you did not know before, that there are several challenges, the number of beds, for example. So we moved from 150 or so beds at the old Victoria Hospital from 1887, you heard the CMO, 1887, to a brand new facility with fewer beds. And so definitely we had a challenge there. Hopefully we are going to use this opportunity to help alleviate problems which this challenge continues to create and present. At the end of the day, all of what we do must, and I repeat, every single thing we do must be for the benefit of people. And if what we are doing does not benefit people, then we have to review, we have to evaluate, and we have to come again, as we say. I'm very pleased with the work which is being done by the team. Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Heights Medical Complex, Dr. Texter James, has commanded St. Lucia as what he described as the first country in the region to have three comprehensive health services at one facility. And that is a tremendous opportunity. I guess a single opportunity for the country. We coined in Lucia one patient, three services. One patient, three services. So a patient could present to the urban polyclinics. They could be seen at the urgent center. And if needed at all, admitted to the secondary care hospital for the OKUH. This is an unprecedented type of facility in this part of the region. And I really want to commend the Government of St. Lucia for taking this bold step to repurpose capital towards alternative uses. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs, Ms. Jenny Daniel, has pledged the ministry's continued support and guidance in establishing the secondary care wing. We will not leave you alone. We have never left you alone and we will not do so. In terms of the staffing, we have tried our best to ensure that there is a cadre of staffing that can be engaged, should continue to provide the service, financial support, supportive medical supplies, maintenance, etc. So we have not given you a dilapidated structure, but rather we have given you what we consider to be an upgraded state-of-the-art facility that has been augmented during the COVID-19 pandemic. And we are confident that working towards, working forward, we will be able to come up with a facility that is really of a high quality and can provide a high quality delivery of service. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George noted that the repurposing of the Victoria Hospital, which opened its doors in 1887, about 136 years ago, speaks to the transition that St. Lucia has made in healthcare. She added that the facility, which had served well over the years, saw a change in function as a respiratory hospital in 2020 with the onset of COVID-19. I think we have to see today as a historic occasion because it allows us to continue the transition for care. And for me, it serves the very three very very important reasons why today is so very important and what it allows us to be able to do. We are also closing the urgent care section of this facility and closing gives us a lot of other opportunities for us to use the facility. In closing, it allows us to construct and retrofit to allow us to open the cashier's urban polyclinic. And looking at the fact that the structure of the cashier's wellness center no longer allows us the necessary expansion that we need for the population. It's an excellent opportunity for us to be able to provide the attachment area, the services that they need, extending hours, more services, and for us to be able to provide care Saturday Sundays and holidays. The secondary care wing allows the MHMC to widen its current scope of services. The opening of the cashier's urban polyclinic will also help to curb the over utilization of the accident and emergency department of the hospital for non-emergency uses. The cashier's urban polyclinic will also give the MHMC the opportunity to more efficiently and effectively manage emergencies and bed shortages issues. From the Ministry of Health, Wellness, and Elderly Affairs Communications Unit, Julia Peter reporting.