Dr Michael Darville MP: It is easy to claim a project was “shovel ready” when no shovel was ever purchased!
STATEMENT: It is regrettable, but not surprising, that the former Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands, continues to mislead the Bahamian people on matters of healthcare infrastructure a sector he himself admitted the Free National Movement failed to reform for reasons as petty as personal dislike between colleagues. That damning admission revealed more than dysfunction it exposed a level of negligence that left an already fragile healthcare system in a deeper state of collapse.
The Bahamian people deserve more than finger-pointing from those who had their chance and did nothing with it. Dr. Sands, who has very little to show for his tenure, now seeks to rewrite the record. We will not let fiction replace fact.
The statement released by the Free National Movement is not only inaccurate it is irresponsible.
The much-touted multi-storey extension at PMH was, at best, a concept on paper. No contracts had been awarded. No construction had started. No final architectural drawings had been confirmed. The financing, which the FNM refers to as “secured,” was in fact tied up with multiple unrelated loan instruments and not earmarked for that specific project. Upon coming to office, this administration found no concrete pathway for execution.
It is easy to claim a project was “shovel ready” when no shovel was ever purchased.
As for the labour component of the new hospital project, those terms are still being negotiated. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Works have made it clear: protecting Bahamian jobs remains a priority. We will not take lectures on labour fairness from the same political party that laid off hundreds of Bahamians in civil service immediately after being elected to office in 2017, over 2000 Bahamians with families.
The broader redevelopment plans for Princess Margaret Hospital are fully accounted for in the government’s new loan facility with CIBC. This is part of a clear, strategic plan to deliver modern infrastructure and improved healthcare access for all Bahamians. That work is scheduled to proceed within this current budget cycle.
The FNM abandoned the opportunity to lead on healthcare reform. They now want to obstruct it.
This administration is moving beyond talk. We are building. We are training. We are reforming. And we are doing so with transparency, with purpose, and with the people’s interest at the centre of our decisions
Let the record reflect that this government does not act out of vengeance, nor does it govern based on personality clashes. We govern to solve problems, not to preserve egos.
END
20 July, 2025
Ministry of Health and Wellness
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
