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China to Construct Mental Health Hospital in St Lucia

Posted on: Sunday, 7 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Text of report by Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) news agency on 7 August

Castries, St Lucia: China will soon commence construction of is its third major project for St Lucia - a mental health hospital, costing 27m Eastern Caribbean [EC] dollars (10.1m US dollars).

The hospital designs, which were presented to government here Friday [5 August], will be part of a new medical complex which will include a new European Union-funded general hospital, located a short distance to the west of the capital.

China is funding the mental health facility and will provide not only cash, but also part of the workforce and will assist in providing equipment upon construction.

Chinese Ambassador to St Lucia Gu Huaming who presented the designs to Health Minister Damien Greaves said that the hospital would be the third major donation to the people of St. Lucia since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1997.

The two earlier projects were the National Stadium and the Free Trade Zone Facility both located in the southern town of Vieux Fort.

The new hospital, according to Greaves, is part of a wider plan to reform the island's health sector, adding that government would be reintroducing mental health care as an element of community primary health care.

However, he said there would be emphasis on secondary care through the provision of psychiatric services, as well as tertiary level care, which includes rehabilitative services.

Source: BBC Monitoring Americas

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