NATIONAL REFERENCE LAB
CONTRACT SIGNING
(Talking Points)
The retrofitting of the National Reference Lab is a key element of the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) objective to strengthen the country’s health system. These works are being done in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank under, Component 2 of the “Programme to Support for the Health System Strengthening of The Bahamas (BH-L1053)” loan facility.
The objective of the Programme is: To support the strengthening of The Bahamas health system to meet the population’s health needs. The specific objectives are to: (i) integrate primary and secondary care services that Department of Public Health (DPH), Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) deliver; (ii) improve access, coverage and quality of community, ambulatory, and hospital services through a person and community centred model of care; and (iii) increase the efficiency of health services.
The health infrastructure in The Bahamas is aging. Some of our buildings date back to the 1960’s and have been affected by multiple storms and natural disasters. Just recently in 2019, Hurricane Dorian, the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record to directly impact a landmass, caused a 37.7 million USD damage to health facilities. In order to improve the conditions of these structures and consequently the quality of health care provided, 3 main aspects were considered for their upgrading:
- Resilience to natural disaster risks: to be able to resist extreme climatic conditions (mostly related to storms and strong winds), but also to sustain operations under these adverse conditions.
- Sustainability and energy efficient design: the design of clinics’ upgrade required a sustainable approach to comply with the IDB sustainable development framework. General sustainable design, use of appropriate materials and energy efficient solutions are required. It has been recommended the use of EDGE “green building” certification tool for all sixteen (16) facilities.
- Adequate design for infectious diseases: Some of these facilities will be new, while others will require extensions and adjustments to existing layouts because of the greater demand they face from a growing population and increasing complexity of the services provided. COVID-19 has taught us that there is a need to adapt health facilities to contain the spread of contagious diseases such as this one and to prepare contingency plans to handle the higher volume of patients other similar epidemics might bring.
The infrastructural improvements to the National Reference Lab will be a critical boost to our Level ll Facility portfolio (Intermediate Primary Health Care Services), which includes maternal and childcare, Immunization, Specialist services (Family Medicine, Dentistry), Treatment of common illnesses, Provision of essential drugs and pharmacy services), Emergency Room (with resuscitation equipment), Reproductive health, Outpatient curative care, (specimens shipped to New Providence), Limited Diagnostics.
The National Reference Laboratory works will be conducted in central New Providence, at the site previously inhabited by the Mortgage Cooperation, on Russell Road, Oakes Field.
During the construction and operational of the proposed development there will be some environmental and social impacts. These potential impacts include air, dust, and noise pollution, in addition to some traffic impacts. These will all be properly mitigated, to ensure minimal disruption to the public, inclusive of the following.
- Works will be restricted to daylight
- Notice will be given to surrounding communities, in the event any work has to be done outside of designated daylight hours.
- The developer will ensure that all equipment used during construction and operation is properly maintained.
- Signage will be placed around the property that will indicate the commencement of works.
Today we are here for the official contract signing between The Ministry of Health and Wellness and Scorpio Construction Ltd, the contractor, who through a competitive bid process won this contract.
The bid process begun 18 July 2024 and was closed 19 August 2024. Four bids were received at the bid closing and ranged from the winning bid of $1,950,863.99 to $16,510,133.09.
Scorpio Construction’s was determined to be the lowest evaluated and substantially responsive bid.
