ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, SEPTEMBER 12- Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and his Cabinet plan to donate one month’s salary annually toward the construction of Grenada’s new teaching hospital.

At the same time, the government states that it is aiming to transform the nation’s entire healthcare system within 12 months.

The leadership pledge, announced during Thursday’s Throne Speech, aims to encourage public donations for Project Polaris, a “world-class medical city” planned for an 83-acre site.

A special donation account will be established at the Ministry of Finance for citizen contributions.

“The Prime Minister and his Cabinet will lead by example and start this process by donating 1 month’s salary before the end of 2025 and thereafter 1 month’s salary in each calendar year, until Project Polaris is commissioned,” Governor-General Dame Cécile La Grenade announced.

Construction financing negotiations are expected to conclude by year-end through a combination of concessional debt, equity, grants, and donations, plus a $25 million USD government contribution that has already been allocated.

Site preparation and construction mobilization are scheduled to begin in 2026.

The new hospital will operate under the Grenada Hospitals Authority (GHA), part of a sweeping restructuring that will transfer three existing hospitals from Ministry of Health control to the statutory body within 12 months.
“The existing institutional framework through which health care is delivered must be transformed. There is no other option,” the speech stated, describing current systems as “incapable of delivering the kind of quality healthcare that our nation deserves.”

The government also committed to ending inequitable employment practices affecting nurses, with the Cabinet recently approving 33 graduate nurses for six-month paid internships before full commissioning.

“The days of employing our nurses through GRENCASE will soon come to an end,” the throne speech declared, promising to fast-track the regularization of “hundreds of nurses” left “demoralized by unfair and unequal labor and employment practices.”