This move, announced by the Prime Minister on Monday, will see $10 million coming from the Citizenship by Investment Unit to pay outstanding debt of the former administration and $5 million from the Ministry of Finance.

“A $15 million problem doesn’t just suddenly appear – it doesn’t suddenly appear. It’s irresponsible. When we speak about maladministration and in this case because we’re dealing with people’s lives, I will go as far as to say that their behaviour and actions are criminal,” Chastanet said.

The Owen King EU Hospital, financed by the European Union to the sum of EUR 36 million, was completed in 2016 as a replacement for the Victoria Hospital.

The day’s government commissioned a transition team comprising health professionals like Dr. Stephen King. The incoming Chastanet Administration disengaged this team in favour of a group of professionals from the Cayman Islands. Still, the OKEU Hospital remained largely underused until 2020 amid an overwhelming COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to that, in 2019, visiting EU officials gave Saint Lucia’s healthcare sector a failing grade of two out of ten and inquired as to the reason why the OKEUH remained closed.

A little over four years of being operational, the Hospital has racked up a considerable amount of debt tied to operational expenses.

When pressed for comment on this, sitting Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre cited a rushed opening of the hospital on the part of the former administration. He contended that the Chastanet Administration did not allocate sufficient funds for the day-to-day running of the facility.

“There was a hastily put together movement to go into OKEU because Victoria Hospital was bursting at the seams,” the prime minister stated.