The cost for the first phase of repairs to public health facilities damaged during Hurricane Beryl has increased to approximately $1.7 billion.

This is up from an initial projection of $1.098 billion.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton noted that the ministry’s recovery plan aims to firstly bring operations and service delivery in all facilities back to normal.

A longer term goal is to make health facilities climate resilient in line with the World Health Organization’s standards.

He explained that the recovery plan will be implemented in three phases.

The third and final phase dubbed the resilient phase, will aim to make facilities more resilient to natural disasters.