Final architectural designs are being prepared for the project to be publicly bid in July, with groundbreaking to launch construction tentatively set for November, according to Health Secretary Justina Langidrik.
The existing 24-year-old hospital in Majuro, also funded by the U.S., will be demolished as part of construction of the new facility.
After objections over the estimated $40 million cost of earlier proposed hospital designs, the U.S. Interior Department and the Ministry of Health have agreed on a reduced budget for a 120 bed hospital. U.S. Interior Department grant official Alan Fowler said Wednesday in Majuro that the actual cost won’t be known until final blueprints are produced, but is estimated to be $20 to $30 million.
Langidrik said the new hospital will increase the number of beds from the present 90 to 120, provide isolation ward for infectious diseases, establish new facilities for medical programs for nuclear test-affected islanders, build a new location for a Diabetes Wellness Center, and build an apartment complex at the rear of the hospital area to accommodate expatriate health workers.
Originally there had been discussion about building the new hospital section by section as portions of the old hospital were demolished to make way for the new. But in the final, approved plan the wards, administration and other facilities will be built in a large open area between the current hospital and the adjacent capital building. “We’ll start with the patient wards,” Langidrik said. “Once they are built, we can move the patients so there will be no interruption in services. Then we’ll move onto other sections.”
Construction is expected to take two years to complete, with another year of work to build the apartment complex for expatriate staff.
The architecture work is being done by Guam- and Manila-based EMPSCO. A Public Works Project Management Unit report from earlier this year notes “the new hospital (will) utilize the whole vacant lot in between (the existing hospital) and capital buildings. The facility will be constructed as one consolidated single story structure, each ward provided with basic requirements including adequate and secured parking space.”
Langidrik said the government is looking at creative ways to finance the construction work — including bank loans — since the plan calls for $5 million per year to be available from U.S. infrastructure grant money, while the facility is estimated to cost between $20 and $30 million.
