Health project starts soon

l CAIRNS

| Nick Dalton

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

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