Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Dr Wykeham McNeill, says the opening of the state-of-the-art private hospital in Rosehall, St James, on Thursday, is tangible proof that Jamaica is moving ahead in health tourism.
“This new $2.3 billion state-of-the art hospital is largely driven by tourism interests. The more the investment in Jamaica and the more hotel rooms there are, it’s good for the (owners of the hospital). Right now in Jamaica, we are going through possibly, the most active period of investment in the tourism sector than we have ever had,” McNeill pointed out.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the minister noted that this year alone, the sector will be breaking ground for over 2,600 new hotel rooms.
“Never before have we ever had such robust growth. This is surely a tremendous achievement for Jamaica and also for tourism. This is important, because as we are getting state-of-the-art health facilities, it now opens up the opportunity for tourism to actually reach its true potential,” he said.
The new hospital has been established by the Hospiten Group, which is based in Spain.
“I want to welcome this investment by the Hospiten Group in Jamaica. I am really proud of their work as seen in this first class facility, the first of its kind in the English speaking Caribbean,” the minister said.
McNeill was joined by Minister of Health, Dr Fenton Ferguson, and Chairman of Hospiten Group, Dr Pedro Luis Cobiella, to cut the ribbon to officially open the new facility - Hospiten Montego Bay.
The first world facility, which is the only private Jamaican hospital with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) outside of Kingston, has employed 300 persons.
The hospital has 22 in-patient beds, two operating rooms, one delivery room and eight outpatient rooms.
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