Castries, Saint Lucia – On September 13, 2024, The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the Government of Saint Lucia signed contracts with two Saint Lucian and two Saudi Arabian construction and consulting firms to complete the reconstruction of St. Jude Hospital in Augier, Vieux-Fort, Saint Lucia. The signing is an important step forward for transferring health services from the retrofitted George Odlum National Stadium, back to St. Jude Hospital, which was tragically damaged in a fire in 2009.

The reconstruction of St. Jude Hospital, funded by the SFD with a concessional loan of $75 million, will include 100 beds, maternity wards, emergency rooms, and surgical suites, serving around 50,000 patients annually. The hospital will enhance healthcare quality for the people of Saint Lucia, ensure sustainable service delivery, and improve access to advanced medical care.

Today’s agreements were witnessed by CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), H.E. Sultan Al-Marshad and Saint Lucia's Prime Minister, Hon. Philip Joseph Pierre.

The Prime Minister, Hon. Philip Joseph Pierre, expressed his appreciation stating, “I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Development Fund and everyone who has played a role in bringing us here today.”

In his remarks, H.E. Sultan Al-Marshad additionally emphasized that the hospital’s reconstruction would empower local communities, strengthen the healthcare sector's ability to meet the needs of the people of St. Lucia, and promote economic and social growth.

The project comes as part of SFD’s long-standing commitment to supporting sustainable socio-economic development in developing countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), while contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG.)

In 2024 The SFD celebrated 50 years of global development impact, touching hundreds of millions of lives across 100 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. As the official international development arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the SFD has financed and supported more than 800 projects with a total funding of $20 billion. Since 2023, the SFD has extended development loans to 9 new countries, all of which are SIDS.