PR – An opposition parliamentarian is concerned that basic healthcare needs at the community level are being neglected, while the government is using the promise of a new hospital as “campaign props’’ for soon-to-be-held general elections in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
MP Peter David, leader of the Democratic People’s Movement (DPM), recommends that Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell’s administration should prioritize retrofitting community health clinics, while planning for the future.
“Stock the clinics, staff them, keep them open. This isn’t complicated. This is life and death,’’ said David.
“Last year EC$24 Million in healthcare funding went unspent, while patients waited for medicine; clinics across the country don’t have basic supplies; people in the rural parishes travel an hour to see a doctor,’’ David complained, pointing to the case of a St Patrick man who was rushed to a clinic in the parish for treatment but found the facility closed.
“They drove to the hospital. By the time they got there, he was gone. He needed oxygen; he didn’t make it,’’ David reported.
“That’s not a statistic; that’s a man—somebody’s father, somebody’s friend, somebody’s neighbor; gone, because a clinic was closed.’’
David explained that, “when we talk about healthcare in Grenada, we’re not talking about policy papers; we’re not talking about budget lines. We’re talking about whether someone in St Patrick, in St Andrew and in St Mark, whether they live or die based on if a clinic door is open. This is a crisis.’’
Right now, he added, “we hear about Project Polaris. That man in St Patrick needed oxygen now; not in five years, not when the medical city opens. He needed it that day.’’
The US$350 Million Project Polaris, to be located in Hope Vale, “is more than a hospital’’, according to government. “It’s a visionary health and innovation district designed to redefine care, research, and well-being across the Caribbean’’.
A groundbreaking on what’s also described as “Grenada’s new smart hospital and medical city’’ is promised for this year.
David said the hospital construction was discussed with a St Andrew DPM community leader, who “knows how projects really work’’, with many years of experience in construction, and of building businesses in the Diaspora.
The costing of the proposed hospital was raised, with consideration given to likely increases in shipping and in items such as concrete and steel, between the groundbreaking and the hospital’s completion.
“That US$350 Million,’’ argued David, “becomes $400 Million, $500 Million, before a single patient walks through the doors. And then he asks me straight — is this a healthcare plan or an election plan? Because here is what we know: groundbreaking promised for 2026, right before the election. And you know what comes next? Reelect us, so we can finish what we start. A project this size, they could run that line for two or three election cycles. That’s not healthcare strategy, that’s campaign strategy.’’
David, as he has previously done, including during this year’s national budget debate in parliament, reiterated that he is not opposed to a new hospital for the country, but wants us to “fix what we have’’.
“We’re not against building hospitals. We’re against using hospitals as campaign props, while ignoring the healthcare crisis happening today. Stock the clinics, add urgent care. Every Grenadian life matters. Not some day; now,’’ David said.
“First, we question whether this is about healthcare or about headlines. Then, we organize around solutions that work now. Finally, we move forward together because Grenadians can’t wait for election cycles to get the care they need.’’
