Liberal MHA Lisa Dempster says she’s concerned about the state of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital in St. John’s.
The Labrador MHA introduced a Private Member’s Resolution in the House of Assembly this week urging government to reconsider the scrapping of plans for a new hospital on Kenmount Road to replace the aging inner-city hospital.
Noting that parts of the hospital are “over 100 years old,” Dempster says staff will not want to work in an “old dilapidated hospital.”
“When it comes to health care, I think we’re going down a slippery, sad road if that was a political decision,” she told VOCM News.
“We looked at the facility, FCI (The facility condition index), and it’s there. Did they do a full analysis? We don’t know. Did they cancel it because it was a Liberal announcement? That’s unfortunate.”
Minister Lela Evans (VOCM News)
Health Minister Lela Evans argues the Liberals’ plan would have “patients wearing jackets in the winter and being too hot in the summer.”
“It’s ironic now that the member from Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair is talking about how bad that hospital is today. How drafty it is, how dark and dreary it is – that’s her words,” she said.
“But in actual fact, they proposed a hospital without putting in anything in the budget, in the fiscal forecast for that hospital.”
