Chastanet Demands St Jude Audit 17 years After Fire & $600M Spent

Seventeen years after fire devastated St Jude Hospital, Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet is demanding a comprehensive audit of the entire project, questioning how Saint Lucia could have spent or committed close to $600 million across successive approaches while the south is still waiting for the fully functioning general hospital it was promised.

Chastanet raised the questions on September 9, exactly 17 years after the 2009 fire that claimed three lives and forced hospital operations into facilities that were intended to be temporary.

While acknowledging that some departments have now been moved into St Jude, the former prime minister argued that this should not be confused with completion, stressing that “physical construction is not clinical commissioning” and partial commissioning does not amount to a fully functioning hospital.

His intervention comes after the Minister of Health indicated in April that complete commissioning was anticipated within three to four months. Chastanet said that timeframe has now passed, arguing that residents of the south deserve an explanation of what remains outstanding, a revised completion date and clarity on when the hospital will become fully operational.

But Chastanet placed the financial history of St Jude at the centre of his challenge.

According to figures presented by the Opposition Leader, approximately $118 million was spent on the original reconstruction before a further approximately $130 million was spent on the new hospital building initiated under his administration.

He claimed the current administration has since spent or committed approximately $350 million after abandoning that new facility and returning to the original structure — bringing the combined expenditure and commitments across successive approaches to close to $600 million.

Chastanet said those figures now require independent reconciliation, calling for Government to publish a certified financial statement showing what was spent before July 2021 and what has been spent or committed since.

He also wants the public to see every contract and variation associated with the project, what remains unpaid and the final projected cost of delivering a fully functioning St Jude Hospital.

The Opposition Leader said his administration was prepared to accept scrutiny of every St Jude decision made while it was in office and challenged the current administration to subject its decisions to the same level of examination, urging that the process “follow the decisions, follow the contracts, follow the money.”

Beyond the financial questions, Chastanet used the anniversary to highlight the experience of healthcare workers who have served residents of southern Saint Lucia for the past 17 years under arrangements initially expected to be temporary.

He also remembered those who lost their lives in the September 9, 2009 fire, along with their families and the doctors, nurses, hospital employees, firefighters and citizens who responded to the disaster.

For Chastanet, however, the anniversary should not be limited to remembrance. He argued that it must also force a reckoning with the decisions, spending and delays that have defined the St Jude reconstruction over nearly two decades.

His demand is for a comprehensive audit covering the entire project across successive administrations — including his own — to establish how much has ultimately been spent, where the money went and what it will finally cost to deliver the hospital.

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