The 357-bed hospital with 120,000 square feet of covered space has been meticulously planned and sports the first ICU of the island, an isolation ward among other important features and had become a necessity as a rapidly increasing population – the demographic bomb was in the midst of being defused – had reduced the beds/1,000 pax from 2.5 to 1.9 and was in line with government's promise and plan of upgrading the delivery of public health.
The 38-year-old Minister of Health who'd been in the job for two years – as well as eight in that of the General Secretary of the Labour Party – doesn't fail to give credit where it is due. He tells us that the foundation stone was laid in 1963 when Guy Forget had the portfolio while Harold Walter presided over almost all of the building work when he was in charge. There was even an arts competition. Architects, sculptors and labourers are thanked. He seemed to have had a lot of fun equipping the new gem.
The first time I went to the SSRNH I was quite impressed by the sophistication, scale of the facilities and ambiance there. Mind you this was the feeling of a boy who was probably in Standard III just waiting in the car. Many years later when I read Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's first impression of Brasilia – Oscar Niemeyer designed it as an airplane – I immediately thought of my first encounter with lopital di nor. "The impression I have is that I'm arriving on a different planet."
