Trinidad and Tobago reopens Couva Children’s Hospital, restores life fund after years of delay 

Trinidad and Tobago: In a significant move, the government of Trinidad and Tobago reopened the Couva Children’s Hospital after millions wasted and years of delay. With this, they have reaffirmed its dedication to ensuring that no child is denied lifesaving medical care due to financial hardships of the family.

The government has also highlighted major reforms to the Children’s Life Fund which was established in 2010. It was reported that between 2011 and 2015, this fund supported around 169 children islandwide with ministers personally contributing over $4.47 million.

However, officials now claim that under the former PNM administration this fund was allowed to stall which resulted in children being denied this much needed access to urgently needed care.

While announcing the reopening of the fund and the hospital, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said, “We fixed this,” and noted that upon returning to office, they restored and strengthened the life fund while delivering on its commitment to expand support through the Children’s Life Fund (Amendment) Bill.

This legislation which has further widened the range of medical conditions which are eligible for support has been described as Cabinet Note No 1, Bill No 1 and Act No 1 under the present administration.

Notably, the newly revived Life Fund will now work alongside the Couva Children’s Hospital which officials noted that represents a dual approach that is removing financial obstacles along with expanding access to paediatric care.

PM Kamla further reported that in May 2025, formal assessments began and it is when they found what they described as nearly a decade of neglect including 10 significant radiology systems worth $33.5 million that expired without treating a single patient, 217 pieces of medical equipment valued at $20.68 million that were never opened, 45 items valued at $14.2 million deemed obsolete as well as 225 systems worth $31.9 million was found to be non-functional. The officials estimated that in total $100 million was wasted and they called it a deliberate neglect which deprived the needy families of essential medical services.

According to UDeCOTT, an additional $78.2 million is being channelled into restoring and replacing critical equipment with procurement and commissioning taking place in well-organised phases.

Several key milestones have already been achieved. The first operating theatres were certified in September 2025, patient care began in November, and the first surgery was carried out on November 28, 2025.

By December 5, 2025, officials confirmed that 86 surgeries had been completed, medical teams from all four Regional Health Authorities were actively treating patients, and day-case procedures were being prioritised to safely expand service capacity.

The Government has announced that the Couva Children’s Hospital is now fully open and operational, finally delivering care to the nation’s children as it was originally designed to do.