WHY NAME MSJMC AFTER SIR LESTER?

The Mount St. John’s Medical Centre is to be renamed in Sir Lester Bird’s honour on Tuesday.

Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador Lionel Hurst says, the move comes as the former Prime Minister was the brainchild behind the construction of the facility.

Sir Lester, Hurst says, conceptualized the medical facility after being a patient at the Holberton Hospital.

Ambassador Hurst says, during Sir Lester’s hospitalization, he thought it was ill- equipped to efficiently serve Antiguans and Barbudans.

Sir Lester then decided to source funding from China and approached foremost medical minds to be part of the initiative.

The move to rename Mount St. John’s Medical Centre has been criticized by some who believe it should be renamed after a medical professional.

Hurst was speaking as a guest on Monday’s edition of Antigua Barbuda Today.