Speaking on the matter, Pierre said the Opposition’s attacks are misplaced and hypocritical, recalling that the Owen King European Union (OKEU) Hospital, completed under the previous Labour government, remained unopened for years under the former administration.

“In 2015, Kenny Anthony formed it. In 2016, we lost the election; by 2017, they were fired,” Pierre said. “And OK, even though it was physically ready, it was not commissioned until 2020 by the same solutions some of them were fired. And the excuse was they had to get professionals. So you had Cayman City; we paid a couple of million dollars contract, part of it was to commission a new hospital.”

Pierre said his government’s immediate priority after taking office in 2021 was to improve the conditions at Victoria Hospital, which had been converted into a COVID-19 ward during the pandemic.

“The first act was to make people more comfortable at the Victoria Hospital at the COVID ward,” Pierre explained.

“On my first acts with Minister Moses Jn. Baptiste, we put internet and got a telecommunication system going for these people there because a man had hanged himself there. He had hanged himself because of the conditions that we inherited at that place.”

The Prime Minister also noted that despite the Opposition’s complaints, the current administration has taken meaningful steps toward completing and commissioning St. Jude Hospital.

“What happened? Thousands of dollars were spent to paint it,” Pierre said, alluding to the previous administration’s actions.

He reaffirmed that under his leadership, the hospital will not only be completed but fully operational within months, marking what he described as “a long-overdue victory for the people of the south.”