St. Kitts and Nevis’ new JNF Hospital to feature multi-specialty facilities

St. Kitts and Nevis has taken a special initiative to enhance its healthcare sector. Among various decisions it has taken to accomplish the goal, building the new Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) Health Network Multi-Specialty Hospital remains a major one. The hospital, the 3D design of which was unveiled recently, will feature new and much improved medical services, making it a truly high-tech ‘Centre of Excellence’. 

Apart from boosting St. Kitts and Nevis’s healthcare sector by offering several medical services and specialties, the hospital will also cater to the needs of patients from both the island and other parts of the Eastern Caribbean region to promote medical tourism. It will also be a climate-resilient facility which will not only withstand extreme weather conditions and double up as a shelter during deadly storms but also promote eco-friendly practices. A soothing natural ambience will also be maintained around the hospital to help the patients recover fast. 

“This is more than just an upgrade; this is a transformation of our healthcare system,” Prime Minister Terrance Drew said at the design-unveiling ceremony. The construction of the hospital will commence shortly and it will reach the highest level of care, innovation and efficiency, the PM added. The hospital, which will be built on 15 acres in West Farm in St. Kitts, will see Taiwan’s Overseas Engineering & Construction Company making a key contribution towards making it a reality. The government signed an agreement with the Taiwanese firm in May 2024 for the construction of the hospital.

Jenson Morton, the director of health institutions in the St. Kitts and Nevis’s health ministry who has played a major role in developing the hospital’s plan, gave a detailed description of the new JNF Multi-Speciality Hospital at the design-unveiling ceremony.

New JNF Hospital’s multi-specialty services 

Besides offering enormous flexibility and capacity for in-patient units, Morton said the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds and high dependency unit beds are offered as single occupancy rooms and not an open bay system. 

The hospital will have single acute care in-patient rooms and twin-sharing in-patient rooms for better operational efficiency. There will be patient head wall units with outlets for data, oxygen, medical gases, electricals and other essential features. 

The hospital’s maternity unit will feature antenatal postpartum rooms for single occupancy.

Among other medical services that the hospital will offer are cardiology, dermatology, cardiothoracic surgery, mammography, nephrology, neurology, ear, nose and throat services and others. 

Comparison with existing hospital

When it comes to features and facilities, the JNF Health Network Multi-Specialty Hospital will see a massive improvement over the existing JNF General Hospital. Here are some comparative facts and figures:

·         The new hospital will have 128 beds, more than those available in the older hospital. It will also have multi-specialty units as against the older hospital’s limited facilities. 

·         The new hospital will have multiple fully equipped theatres as against the existing one’s limited offerings.

·         It has expanded outpatient clinics with more specialties compared to the small offerings at the existing one.

·         The new multi-specialty hospital is an environment-friendly facility with solar-powered facility, rainwater collection and recycling, green waste management, advanced filtration for cleaner air and above all, capacity to withstand major storms. The current hospital either lacks these amenities or have limited or basic features on these counts.  

·         The new hospital has high-tech MRI and CT scanners, digital and high-resolution imaging, modern and minimally invasive surgery tools, smart ICU and advanced monitoring, AI-assisted diagnostics and virtual consults. The older hospital has limited MRI machines, basic X-ray and imaging, older surgical equipment and outdated ICU and critical care monitors. It has no AI-assisted or telemedicine facilities. 

·         In terms of services, the new hospital has quick-moving queues of patients because of faster triage and treatment, faster outpatient appointments due to more specialists and quicker appointments, quicker advanced imaging and less waiting time for surgeries because of more theatres. The older hospital has longer wait times in emergency care, fewer specialists causing delays in outpatient appointments, longer waits in diagnostic testing and backlogs in surgery schedules due to lesser number of facilities.

·         The new hospital offers more comfort in terms of spacious and comfortable lounges, modern and healthy dining options, terraced gardens and relaxation zones and technological offerings in forms of WiFis, smart TVs and digital check-ins. 

At an estimated cost of nearly $200 million, the new multi-specialty hospital is one of the significant achievements in St. Kitts and Nevis’s government’s Sustainable Island State Agenda.