Let us not forget – where OKEU’s unhealthy problems come from!

As the longest-serving MP in the Cabinet, Prime Minister Philippe J. Pierre has an extremely long memory, which explains why he knows better than most of his cabinet colleagues that people’s (and not just voters’) memories tend to be short when it comes to delivering on government promises.

Having learned this lesson during the first two terms of the Kenny Anthony administration (1997 to 2006), Prime Minister Pierre will not forget to always bear in mind that citizens are not always willing to remember this.

But he is not one to boast, and his approach to statecraft reflects his understanding that people elect governments to serve them better and deliver on the ruling party’s campaign promises.

So, rather than boasting that the ruling Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) already has an enviable record of delivering on the most election manifesto promises since independence in the first three years of this term, he conscientiously followed the party’s mantra of “putting people first”.

Since August 2021, this government has delivered on the promises of the SLP election manifesto in every sitting of Parliament.

The Prime Minister has also managed the affairs of government in a way that provides value for money, turns around employment/unemployment figures, and increases the number of people (working and retired) who benefit from every national budget he presents.

But while keeping an eye on the numbers, Prime Minister Pierre is also closely following the situation, including monitoring developments in the education and health sectors.

Last week, he reminded the media that it was the previous SLP government that introduced universal education from kindergarten to secondary school and established Dame Pearlette Louisy Secondary School in Union, beginning to abolish the inherited so-called “shift system” that reduced students’ class time to half a day.

The same is true in the health sector – not only because the PM believes that being on the wrong side of nurses and doctors could be bad for health, but also because he remembers that it was the previous SLP government that introduced the concepts of universal health and universal health insurance.

The Prime Minister was part of the Labour Government that embarked on the construction of the new OKEU, the Millennium Heights complex and St Jude’s Hospital, and he is now leading the rebuilding of St Jude’s Hospital, decades after it was destroyed by fire on September 9, 2009.

Almost 15 years have passed since the St Jude fire (three consecutive governments have passed), and after Julian Alfred won Olympic gold and silver medals, this government has set about ensuring that the George Odlum Olympic Stadium is finally upgraded to Olympic standards as well.

Work is in full swing to transform St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the glorified “shoebox” inherited by this administration, into a south-central health facility that was originally planned to serve the entire area south of Soufriere and Dannelli.

Prime Minister Pierre also recalled that the previous Labour Party Government of Sierra Leone (of which he served as Deputy Prime Minister) inaugurated the construction of these new hospitals and health facilities and that Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony sought and received assistance from Cuba to staff the new health institutions and facilities with sufficient professional nurses, doctors and medical technicians.

He also recalled that Dr. Anthony reported to the Cabinet that it was President Fidel Castro who agreed to establish a new medical training school in Matanzas Province, Cuba, to train at least 400 nurses (male and female) for the new hospital in Santa Lucia.

He recalled that he was also part of the government that persuaded the EU to adopt the Owen King-EU (OKEU) project, the largest EU-funded project in the Eastern Caribbean.

So when Prime Minister Pierre heard nurses and doctors openly complain about conditions in OKEU, his heart broke – because he remembered that it was the former United Workers Party (UWP) government that began the process of severely dismembering OKEU and severing its veins before, during and after its construction.

He well remembers how the West Saint Lucia United Party government, also under the leadership of Minister of Health Dr. Keith Mondesiel, unilaterally extended the stay of 400 new Saint Lucian nurses who were training in Matanzas on government scholarships – causing great losses to their parents and guardians, and even greater suffering to the already trained nurses who were forced to remain in Cuba for another two years due to the change of regime.

(Supporters of the move argue that it is an effort to protect the jobs of older nurses who are about to retire before the next election, but I won’t use that argument here…)

But worse is yet to come…

The Ministry of Health, led by Dr. Mondesir, presided over a painful unilateral operation, removing one of the “five fingers” (extended wings) of the original OKEU design, along with the loss of all the facilities, rooms and spaces that could have been used to play a positive role today.

Now we hear that the UWP and its blind propagandists have forgotten that the OKEU hospital, which was opened under their watch, has fewer beds than the Victoria Hospital it replaced and is run by an outsourced, unheard of Cayman Asia group that has siphoned millions of dollars from citizens and the Treasury through contracts paid out millions of dollars.

Undoing the severe physical damage done to OKEU by the previous government in just five years in office will take much longer, as it involves carrying out life-saving, long-term emergency reconstructive surgery to save the island’s largest hospital from the hands of the UWP government.

However, never forgetting that the health of the nation has never been a matter of partisan competition, Prime Minister Pierre the other day issued a stern warning to the Minister and the Ministry of Health and set a deadline for them to deal with certain urgent public concerns of the OKEU.

I have no doubt that the Minister and the Government have heard it loud and clear, but as time passes, Saint Lucians must not forget to remember where we came from!

Abodie Abofess… (“Nevertheless…”) Can anyone blame this government for the bad state of OKEU?

I don’t think so!