Southern Residents Urge End To Political Games Over SJH

Monday marked the 15th anniversary of the devastating fire at St. Jude Hospital (SJH), with Vieux Fort residents intensifying calls for an end to ‘political games’ regarding the facility’s long-delayed reconstruction. The SJH fire, between midnight and 1 a.m. on September 9, 2009, tragically claimed the lives of two patients on site, with a third dying en route to Victoria Hospital in Castries. Since the blaze, the hospital has been operating out of the George Odlum National Stadium, an arrangement that residents and staff alike describe as inadequate. The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) and the United Workers Party (UWP) have led initiatives to reconstruct the facility, but progress has been slow. The current SLP administration, which renewed reconstruction efforts in November 2022, deemed the previous building—constructed under the UWP—as unfit for use. And Vieux Fort residents, speaking anonymously, have been voicing their frustration. “It’s not fair to us that we do not have a proper hospital,” one local told St. Lucia Times. “It should have been done a long time ago. Politics shouldn’t have to mix with this. The government who’s there start it, the other one who’s coming in continue, because this is a necessity.” Hospital staff echo...