A plan to build a new state-of-the-art children's hospital in Wellington received a massive boost today with the announcement that the Government will put forward $45.6 million for the project.
The announcement, by Health Minister Dr David Clark, comes a year and four months after property developer and philanthropist Mark Dunajtschik gave the proposal life with a $50 million donation - envisioning a privately funded endeavour.
Mr Dunajtschik gave the proposal life with a $50 million donation. (Source: Other)
"The Government wants to make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child and health services and facilities like this new hospital play a vital role in delivering this vision," Dr Clark said in a statement released today, as he attended a mauri stone laying ceremony intended to kick off construction.
"The current hospital is almost 30 years old with services located in different parts of the regional hospital," he added. "This is not ideal for children or families..."
The new three-storey building, which is expected to have a capacity for 50 beds and 21 clinic rooms when completed in 2021, will be connected to the main hospital via a link bridge.
Rooms will include fold-out beds for parents and "the most modern fit-out and state-of-the-art equipment".
"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," former Health Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman said in 2017.
Then-PM Bill English characterised the donation as "unusual and magnificent".
The initial plan was for the project to be completed by the end of this year.
Mr Dunajtschik came to New Zealand from Germany in the 1950s and worked as a tool maker for 28 years before moving in to commercial property. He has quietly amassed one of Wellington's biggest property portfolios and has also given to many causes over the years.
Wellington Hospital asked for a donation, but Mark Dunajtschik came back with something even better. (Source: Other)
They include helping to establish Wellington's helicopter rescue service - now known as the Life Flight Trust - in 1975.
Wellington Hospital had initially approached him only for a donation.
"But I said, 'Why not build one?'" he recalled last year, explaining that he wanted to give back to the country that gave so much to him as a young immigrant. "There's no catch. Why should there be a catch?"
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