By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Ministry of Health and Wellness held a public forum last night to reveal its upcoming plans for significant improvements to the health sector across The Bahamas.

The initiative, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), will see a $43m investment aimed at enhancing healthcare delivery and infrastructure.

There will be $8m invested in the improvement of the delivery of healthcare, a $25m investment in enhancing the capacity of primary care and a $10m investment in the modernisation of the health information system.

The plan includes the construction of new clinics on several Family Islands, including Stevenson, Cat Island; Moore’s Island, Abaco; Staniel Cay, Exuma; Black Point Exuma; Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands and Long Cay.

Additionally, several existing clinics will be renovated to improve primary care services.  These include Bimini Community Clinic; Fox Town Community Clinic; Deadman’s Cay Community Clinic; Fox Hill Community Clinic; Simms Clinic and Abaco Health Centre.

Janeen Bullard, environmental and social specialist for the project, explained that in addition to upgrading the medical equipment in the clinics 15 ambulances have been procured that are expected to arrive next week.

“Sub components of the unit will be to upgrade the medical equipment that are found in within these clinic systems, various types of equipment, laboratory tests, emergency care, services such as defibrillators, equipment for dental services and preventive care,” said Ms Bullard.

“Under this component, we will also see the purchasing or the arrival of 15 new ambulances, some of which are scheduled to be delivered on August 30. These [ambulances] will be divided and distributed to various islands. These include Andros, Bimini, Cat Island, Eleuthera, Long Island, New Providence and San Salvador.”

In addition to the construction and renovation of the clinics the National Reference Laboratory will be constructed in New Providence on the site of the former Mortgage Cooperation building located in Oaks Field.

The project also includes the construction of the National Reference Laboratory in New Providence on the site of the former Mortgage Corporation building in Oaks Field.

This laboratory will centralise laboratory testing and information for The Bahamas.

Ms Bullard said the building which is currently unoccupied and sits on 0.32 acres has already undergone an environmental impact assessment. Mitigations will be put in place to reduce the impact of flood, traffic, noise, air quality, erosion and light.

To address potential disruptions to surrounding businesses during construction, a traffic management plan will be implemented.

“A traffic management plan will need to be implemented to ensure that there are minimal impacts to surrounding businesses and neighbourhoods,” said Ms Bullard.

“For the National Reference Lab, there are several businesses that are right around the area. It is within that area for University of The Bahamas, as well as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, there’s an insurance company right next door. So, a part of that process is that we ensure that we put in mitigation practices that limits those impacts.”

She said the clinics will be built to withstand natural disasters and will be constructed in higher lying areas well away from protected areas.

The clinics will also be built and renovated to ensure they are eco-friendly ‘green buildings’ and will feature isolation areas to prevent the spread of contagious diseases.

“We wanted to make sure that there was adequate design for infectious diseases, so that the clinics are designed to contain the spread of contagious diseases,” said Ms Bullard.

“Ensuring that there are things such as isolation units so if there is a fear that there’s a contagious disease that may be a spreading, these clinics have the capacity to isolate them from other patients that may be in those areas. As well as we will be able to handle the higher volume of patients during epidemics, such as what we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The timeline for the various projects is as follows: renovations to the Abaco Health Centre is expected to take 8 months, while the Fox Town Community Clinic, Deadman’s Cay Community Clinic, and Simms Clinic will be completed in four months each. The Bimini Community Clinic is anticipated to take five months, and the Fox Hill Community Clinic will be finished in two months.

For new constructions, the National Reference Laboratory is projected to take nine months. Stevenson’s clinic is expected to take 18 months, Moore’s Island, Great Harbour Cay, Staniel Cay, and Black Point are estimated at 14 months each, and Albert Town is expected to be completed in six months.