The $55 million critical care block at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) is still not ready, according to sources within the hospital.

The source, who spoke to The Bahama Journal yesterday on the condition of anonymity, said even once the new facility is open, the new surgical theatres, will not be ready.

“As far as we have been told, only three of the six new theatres will open once the facility is open to the public,” the source said.

“We don’t even know when this place will be open. There have been so many setbacks and delays and trust me we need the relief. The amount of people coming into Accident and Emergency alone, with all these shootings happening, is crazy and difficult to deal with when there is limited space.”

The source further explained that no space has been allotted for Accident and Emergency and most of the space in the new block has been dedicated to house administrative offices.

The critical care block was expected to be officially opened in October.

Construction on the critical care block began in November 2011.

To date the $55 million, 66,000 square foot, expansion is the largest single investment in healthcare infrastructure the country has ever seen.

Upon completion, the Critical Care Block will include six operating theatres with iPod docking stations, 20 intensive care unit rooms, 48 neonatal intensive care beds, 18 recovery beds, a new hospital entry and over $20 million worth of equipment.

Back in August the government took a tour of the facility, which officials said was 90 per cent complete at the time.

Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Managing Director Herbert Brown has said that intensive training needed to keep this facility running.

“One of the things we’ve done leading up to where we are today is that we started a critical care training programme which was certified by the World College in the United Kingdom, so training is ongoing,” he told reporters recently.

“So we are satisfied that nurses are being trained and in addition to nurses being trained there are other categories of staff being trained so that once we open we have the staff we need.”

Mr. Brown said at the time that he was also happy to report that the project is on budget, having only spent just over $51 million of the $55 million allocated to it.