Military Plans New $435 Million Health Facility at Guantánamo Bay
The plan to replace the base hospital envisions a prison still in operation at the base and reduced health care for residents, but no enhanced care for aging war prisoners.
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A white hospital building with a red cross, near palm trees and an American flag.
The proposal for the new health center described the current hospital as “at significant risk of catastrophic failure.”Credit...Carol Rosenberg/The New York Times
By Carol Rosenberg
Dec. 12, 2022
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GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The U.S. military has drawn up plans to replace the base hospital at Guantánamo Bay with a new $435 million health care center that would provide care for hundreds of prison guards but appears to lack facilities specifically for aging war prisoners.
The current two-story hospital, which was built in 1954, is the only health care option for the outpost’s 5,500 to 6,000 residents. In the future, more patients will be evacuated to U.S. hospitals for treatment, though by law the 35 prisoners now there cannot be taken to the United States for any reason.
Details of the “Ambulatory Care Center” were contained in a 3,000-page prospectus that the Navy circulated for would-be contractors this year. The next step will be for Congress to approve $187 million for the first stage, construction, in the fiscal year 2024 budget.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/us/politics/guantanamo-bay-hospital.html
