What a colossal waste of public funds! The present PMH Critical Care Block was opened about a decade ago and proves how governments, our Bahamian government is poor at maintenance of its infrastructure. Partly because of the way our government allocates its annual budget and the lack of ‘political gain’ resulting from maintaining existing vs building new entities.

Successive government administrations need to plan for Bahamian investments over the decades, not over one election cycle. It would mean in our political system having a bipartisan approach to governance. In this instance the decision was made some time ago to redevelop the existing compound where PMH sits. I’m told that this was a decision based on extensive research and assessment, with the ‘experts’ making an evidence based evaluation about funding, Human Resources as well as equipment and infrastructure needs. The present president of the MAB has indicated the paucity of local expertise in all the existing public healthcare professionals, physicians, nurses as well as other highly specialised healthcare providers. Dividing them amongst two separate facilities is not wise based on these realities.

Creating a new expensive structure will benefit the political party (who opens the facility) and the sycophants who suck on the tit of government (political parties)…the question for the Bahamian public (and an investigative press) should be: “who benefits “?

The corrupt hierarchy within the PLP government under SLOP's reign quickly learned how to benefit from generous kick-backs associated with heavily padded construction contracts dished out to the greedy profiteering likes of the Mosko family. But they could never figure out a way to derive similarly beneficial kick-backs from ongoing maintenance contracts so whatever was built for government was simply left to quickly fall in a state of disrepair to justify the need for another heavily padded construction contract.

And the hierarchy within the FNM party quickly adopted this same scheme of new construction graft whenever they were fortunate enough to win a national general election.

Think of the billions of dollars our nation has squandered since 1967 simply because of successive governments preferring to fuel their political objectives with the graft associated with new construction projects while leaving existing government buildings to decay in the shortest time possible. Brave Davis has no shame whatsoever for perpetuating this type of corruption while selling-out our country and the Bahamian people to the classic debt trap set by the Chinese Communist Party. Truly sad.

Invoking the tired trope of a “Chinese Communist Party debt trap” insults the intelligence of the Bahamian people and obscures who truly wields coercive power in our daily affairs. The governments most loudly repeating that phrase are the same ones that restrict our visas, issue implicit threats when we pursue independent policies, and contribute little beyond the occasional shipment of second-hand police gear. By contrast, Chinese engagement has produced infrastructure with real, measurable value to our economy: the Freeport Container Port anchoring maritime trade, the Airport Gateway road upgrade streamlining ground transport, and the Baha Mar resort expanding our tourism portfolio and employment base. These projects arrived without the punitive conditionalities that so often accompany Western assistance - if any. In short, labelling China’s tangible investments as a “debt trap” while ignoring the far less generous conduct of its critics is not analysis—it is propaganda, and as a Bahamian you should know better.

> He [Davis} acknowledged that for far too long, Bahamians have suffered under a broken health system marked by long lines, excessive wait times, and outdated facilities.

>“We cannot accept that as the standard. We will not accept that.Our government has made it clear: healthcare must be treated as a national priority,” Mr Davis said.

Corrupt Davis obviously needs reminding of the total number of years since 1967 that his political party (the PLP) have held the reins of government during which time the "broken health system" he speaks of came into being.

... the main problem with healthcare in this country is not based on infrastructure, but the people who work in the system! How will they fix the problem with consultants who spend more time in their private offices than they do in the hospital or doctors who set a quota of the amount of patients they will see daily or the lack of empathy nurses show to patients who need their help! Many deaths that occur in PMH might be avoidable if staff cared a little bit about human life! How will the government fix that?

Yup, lends new meaning to the Biblical phrase, "Physician Heal Thy Self."

All excellent comments.
All true.
All sad.
The kickbacks are the sole reason for these large projects.
Period.
After the 4 year grace period, what was the collateral put forth?