2023-09-11 18:37:02
The construction of the new Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital is confirmed. Faced with the explosion of the initial envelope, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, however refuses to confirm the total budget of the project.
What there is to know
- The cost of building the new Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital is estimated at 2 billion, but Minister Dubé refuses to comment on the total budget.
- The construction project will be carried out in a single phase and will increase the size of the hospital by more than 50%.
- A restructuring of services is already underway at the hospital to be able to accommodate the massive construction site.
Minister Dubé limited himself to revealing only the estimated cost of the construction of the future building, which should amount to 2 billion. “The construction cost does not include fees, clinical equipment, which can be 500 to 600 million, provisions for unforeseen events,” he said, adding that the overall bill for the project might easily be at least two times higher. According to our information, the total budget is around 5 billion.
However, Minister Dubé did not want to reveal on Monday the size of the budget intended for the megaproject – it is the largest health infrastructure project of the Legault government – which obtained the green light from the Council of Ministers. “Before we go to tender, the last thing I want to do is send a message regarding the total cost of the project,” he said.
Christian Dubé first announced the expansion of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital in August 2021. At the time, he had reserved a budget of 2.5 billion, a sum which quickly became insufficient in the inflationary and overheating in the construction industry.
Ultimately, the new hospital will have 720 beds and around thirty beds for babies, compared to 400 beds at present. These will also be single rooms, rather than doubles.
“These are extremely important changes,” declared Minister Dubé. He hopes that the project will make it possible to “fetch a workforce which unfortunately may have deserted Maisonneuve-Rosemont”.
Construction will be done in a single phase and will “increase the size of the hospital by more than 50%,” indicated the president and CEO of the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. , Jean-François Fortin Verreault.
Plans for the next year
Calls for tenders will begin next week and the plans for the new hospital will be made public “in a year at the latest,” assured Minister Dubé. He expects the first patients to be welcomed into the new facility within eight to 10 years.
The mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, was delighted with this project “which meets the needs of all of eastern Montreal, but also the suburbs”. For his part, the solidarity deputy for Rosemont, Vincent Marissal, joked that he had “never been so happy” to find himself in the hospital.
Maisonneuve-Rosemont is an infrastructure that we absolutely need and I am happy to see that it is there, we are starting the project.
Vincent Marissal, solidarity deputy for Rosemont
To accommodate the imposing project, changes are already underway within the hospital: mental health hospitalization now takes place at the University Mental Health Institute, certain general surgery procedures are carried out privately in the neighborhood Angus, while palliative care will be transferred to CHSLD Saint-Michel next year. “It’s going to be demanding, but we have solutions to get there,” said Mr. Fortin Verreault.
A revised project
In August 2021, Minister Christian Dubé allocated 2.5 billion to modernize and expand the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital. However, a year later, an evaluation by the Société québécoise des infrastructures estimated the project at 4.2 billion, Radio-Canada revealed in the summer of 2022.
In response to the increase in costs, Quebec asked the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal to propose a project in phases to respect the initial budget. The phased scenario, which would have kept rooms in the most dilapidated part, sparked internal concerns, as reported The Press in January. Mayor Valérie Plante expressed her concerns for the population.
In April, during the study of budgetary appropriations, Christian Dubé finally chose to carry out the project in a single phase, while recognizing that the budget would be increased accordingly.
A dilapidated hospital
The Maisonneuve-Rosemont facilities are in a marked state of dilapidation. Since 2018, a metal grid has covered the facade of the Maisonneuve pavilion to prevent any risk of falling pieces of concrete. In 2016, humidity problems were also reported in some rooms. Then in 2018, some operating rooms were closed due to ventilation problems.
“It’s not easy on a daily basis when it’s 29 degrees at 8e [étage] to care for people and take good care of them. It’s not easy when the bathroom is not accessible and you are not able to carry out a rehabilitation that looks good. Now, we will have an environment that matches the teams we have,” rejoiced the CEO of the CIUSSS, Mr. Fortin Verreault.
The initial announcement of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital expansion project was made in 2018 by former Liberal Minister of Health Gaétan Barrette.
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