Hospital: An online petition calling for a new facility in Saint-Jean

On March 12, a majority of the Territorial Council members rejected the request made more than three months earlier by councilors from the Action-Équilibre group, who had called for a public consultation on the plan to rebuild the Irénée de Bruyn Hospital. With the support of the Saint-Barth d’Abord group, President Xavier Lédée was thus able to sideline his former allies and confirm his decision to prioritize rebuilding the hospital at its current site in Gustavia. Convinced that relocating the healthcare facility to Saint-Jean remains the best solution, the Action-Équilibre representatives, led by Marie-Hélène Bernier and Bettina Cointre, launched a petition among the public. The petition was made available for island residents to sign a few days after the March territorial council meeting. While the elected officials are tallying the numerous written signatures, they have also posted an online petition on the website petitionenligne.fr (https://www.petitionenligne.fr/pour_lhopital_de_saint-barthelemy_a_saint-jean#a).
The document outlines the reasons why the territorial councilors of Action-Équilibre believe that the Saint-Jean site is “the solution.” At the same time, they denounce the constraints and nuisances that a construction site in Gustavia would entail. Thus, they are calling for the abandonment of the hospital project at the Gustavia site, the construction of the future hospital in Saint-Jean, and “the immediate suspension of all procedures underway at the Gustavia site.”
For the record, the estimated cost of the reconstruction project in Gustavia is approximately 29 million euros. Additionally, the call for architectural proposals has been issued. Three projects will be selected as early as Wednesday, June 10.