During debate in the House Of Assembly on Monday former Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Killarney, the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis requested that plans for the new specialty hospital to be constructed on New Providence Highway be stopped.
Dr. Minnis contends that more wings could be added to the Princess Margaret Hospital with the money allocated for the new hospital via a loan from the China Export Import Bank. He also questioned the amount of Chinese labour that will be involved in the construction of the new hospital.
“Hundreds if now thousands of work permits and jobs are going to go to Chinese for a number of years. These are jobs that could be done by Bahamians as a bulk of the salaries for these workers will be paid in China these tens of millions of dollars will never circulate in our economy. And this policy to allow so many foreign workers is the ultimate opposite of Bahamian first. This policy by the PLP foreigners first and Bahamian last,” Dr. Minnis said.
Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville responded to Dr. Minnis’ comments saying, “the Bahamian people could rest assured that a lot of support will be given to local contractors. I disagree with the 90/10 percent that the leader of the Contractors Association has set and in due time we will reveal the ratio of Chinese versus Bahamian workers and we’re excited to do so.”
Dr. Darville acknowledged that there was a proposal to expand the Princess Margaret Hospital but said the hospital is deteriorating and has major challenges.
