The ground-breaking ceremony for the Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean will be held on Thursday and the ceremony will be attended by health stakeholders from the region.

A government statement said that the centre is the brainchild of Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and is a joint venture partnership between two private sector organisations and the OECS.

Prime Minister Spencer said the Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean will provide high quality medical, radiation and surgical oncology services.

“In addition, The Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean will aim at enhancing cancer services at Government hospitals within the OECS through the hosting of regular oncology clinics, develop cost effective and safe chemotherapy services, provide oversight and expertise in the various islands and provide major cost savings to partner governments.  This I believe is major progress in this field within the OECS,” he added.

The Director of The Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean and a member of the management team of Global Health Partners Limited, Dr. Conville Brown, said the partnership with the OECS will result in the provision of accessible cancer treatment services to the people of the region and this model of “partnered care” with an element of government ownership may well be utilized in several other areas of medicine, and in other industries such as agriculture and fisheries for moving the region forward.

The Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean, to be constructed on the Mount St. John Centre, will cost an estimated EC$13.5 million (US$5 million).