SAVANNA-LA-MAR Westmoreland — The $331-million expansion and upgrading work at the 62-year-old Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital is expected to not only address the chronic shortage of bed space at the facility, but also open up the possibility of offering services such as surgical procedures to foreigners.

The upgrade could include the construction of an Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department and outpatient area — announced two months before the September 2025 General Election — which should free up ward space, allowing for an additional 120-bed capacity.

“We have staff, and being on the tourist belt, we can facilitate foreign nationals even at that space…down there. We can transform it that way. It’s a wonderful idea and it is structured in such a way that we can go above that to another storey. If needs be, there can even be a private ward up there. You never tell,” Roan Grant, CEO of the hospital told the Jamaica Observer recently.