A Wellington developer this morning signed an ‘unparalleled’ agreement to build and gift a new $50 million children’s hospital for the region.
The announcement was made this morning at Wellington Hospital where a heads of agreement was signed between Mark Dunajtschik and Capital & Coast District Health Board.
“Mr Dunajtschik is a very successful businessman with a very big heart and his offer to build a new children’s hospital for Wellington is extraordinarily generous,” said Health Minister Jonathan Coleman. “While gestures on this scale are not unheard of, they are extremely rare.
“Mr Dunajtschik has said his philosophy is that people blessed with a sound mind and body can look after themselves, but those born with or suffering illness and disability need our support.” Coleman said.
Details are still to be confirmed but the new hospital is expected to be three floors and include 50 inpatient hospital beds, outpatient facilities and spaces for families to be together. Existing child inpatient and outpatient services are expected to move into the new hospital with construction expected to begin early next year and take around 18 months.
Currently about 4000 children are admitted to child health services at Wellington Regional Hospital each year and more than 5000 children attend nearly 38,000 outpatient appointments.
