New design for St. Kitts and Nevis JNF Hospital to be revealed on February 7

The government of St. Kitts and Nevis will on Friday, February 7, 2025, unveil the design for the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital at St. Kitts Marriot Resort, Frigate Bay, Basseterre. The event will begin at 4 pm local time and will be open to all. It will also be streamed live on the social media pages of St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service.

The Caribbean island-state has put a special emphasis on the health sector as one of its measures to promote the country’s Sustainable Island State Agenda. 

Besides dedicating more budgetary funds to the improvement of the health sector, it has also focused on improving the health infrastructure. Unveiling the design of one of the country’s oldest and most reputed hospitals aligns with that mission. 

The government seeks to improve St. Kitts and Nevis’s health services through significant capital investments, which include renovating the JNF General Hospital, setting up new health centers and developing a smart hospital to withstand natural disasters. 

Refurbishment of hospital lobby

One of the major renovation works undertaken in JNF General Hospital has been the refurbishment of its lobby. The goal is not only to improve its overall aesthetic appeal but to accommodate more patients waiting in queue for their turn to get the treatment. 

The project, launched at a ceremony in the hospital in November 2023, was symbolically handed over in October 2024 during an event. Prime Minister Terrance Drew was present on both occasions. 

The Cable company took the project as part of its community outreach and its CEO Patricia Walters said during the handing-over ceremony that they wanted to ensure that whatever they did benefited the country. 

Drew said that health is a national issue and it’s everyone’s business to ensure that the hospital serves everybody’s needs and offers high-quality services. 

He also said the JNF General Hospital has seen other improvements in forms of repair of roofs, recruitment of specialists and extending scholarships to nurses to become specialists in different areas of nursing. The PM is also the country’s health minister.

JNF General Hospital has been upgraded

The hospital, where Drew started his career as a medical practitioner, has also seen the addition of new equipment in recent months, including dialysis machines, anaesthesia machines, MRI scan and CT scan machines. 

In November 2024, it was also revealed that the hospital’s services were set to be upgraded with the commissioning of a third operating theatre, which will cater mainly to maternity patients and emergency cases. 

The state-of-the-art facility, funded by St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, has advanced equipment for cutting-edge procedures such as laparoscopic surgeries.

In January 2025, a specialized training for emergency medical professionals took place at JNF General Hospital under the guidance of a US board-certified emergency medical doctors as a step towards improving the federation’s healthcare sector.