General News
13 March, 2023
Health project starts soon
CONSTRUCTION of the first stage of the $60 million FNQ Health Innovation Project in Cairns is expected to start within three months.
A James Cook University spokesman said the first building would be the Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre (CTEC) which was in the planning stages, with work to begin by July.
“CTEC is expected to be the first building in the FNQ Health Innovation Precinct, and is due for completion in 2024,” he said.
“It will be a multi-disciplinary centre of research and teaching, focussed on health and related areas.
“Specialists in data science and Internet of Things research, for example, will apply cutting-edge technology to the challenges facing health and medical professionals and their remote, rural and Indigenous patients.”
The building will be on land close to Cairns Hospital, previously part of the Cock and Bull pub, bounded by Grove, Digger, Charles and Sheridan streets.
“JCU is committed to partnering with the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) to develop the FNQ Health Innovation Precinct,” the spokesman said.
“The FNQ Health Innovation Precinct is an exciting and important project for Cairns and the Far North. It will address the pressing health needs of the Far Northern region by strengthening education, research and innovation,” he said.
“Thanks to $60m from the previous Federal Government, JCU was able to secure the site for the precinct.
“Having transferred part-ownership of the site to Queensland Health, the university is now planning construction of its Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre (CTEC).”
It comes as JCU’s ‘end-to-end’ medical program begins in Cairns, with 39 new students able for the first time to complete all of their medical training in Cairns.
JCU vice chancellor Professor Simon Biggs said before 2023, the first three years of the six-year degree had to be completed outside of Cairns.
“JCU launched Australia’s first regionally-based medical program in 2000 that saw students complete the foundation years of the degree in Townsville, before having the option to move to Cairns or Mackay for their final years of study,” he said.
“The expansion to include the full program in Cairns is an important step forward in making medical education available locally, producing a medical workforce for regional, rural and remote communities.”
JCU College of medicine and dentistry dean Professor Richard Murray said the new program provided access to medical training for students from a diverse range of backgrounds and regions, including applicants who might had previously considered pursuing a medical career unattainable.
“One in three students in our new Cairns cohort is the first in their family to go to university and from a regional, rural or remote area.
“Around two-thirds of this cohort are coming to us from outside a metropolitan area,” he said.
