President of the Bahamas Doctors Union (BDU) Dr. Charles Arthur Clarke yesterday announced that doctors at the South Beach Clinic are taking a work-to-rule stand as a result of the air conditioning and ventilation system in the south wing of the South Beach Clinic, which is not functioning.
"Indeed, we took this principled stand this morning that we will not work under these conditions," Clarke said at a press conference at the South Beach Clinic.
"We suggest that the matter is dealt with. In the interim, patients will be directed to the Flamingo Gardens Clinic and any other nearby facility."
Clarke stated that the air conditioning and ventilation system has not been working for "some months".
The south wing of the clinic is where ambulatory adult care, chronic non-communicable disease education and dentistry are performed. "On average, the doctors and the dentists see up to 200 persons per day in the facility, which now places us in a difficult situation and we would like to express our concerns to the powers that be," Clarke said.
"And one can argue that the last days of summer are upon us, but there is something to be said about basic human comforts."
Clarke explained to The Nassau Guardian that half of the facility currently has air conditioning and doctors and dentists are prepared to be redeployed to other parts of the clinic, if they can be accommodated.
He stated that the BDU has made attempts to contact Administrator of Public Health Charlene Bain, but has yet to receive a response.
"Too long have we been given unreasonable timelines and the occasional turn of a blind eye," Clarke said. "Whatever effort to rectify this issue has been too little, and when people's health are jeopardized as a result it may well be on the road to 'too late'."
He called on the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Works to address the matter as soon as possible.
The Guardian reached out to Bain yesterday, who confirmed that the clinic has been experiencing air conditioning problems but he expects the situation to be rectified today.
"We changed the system two months ago and when BEC (now BPL) turned the electricity off the system went down," Bain explained.
"We purchased two new systems and the vendor attempted to put them in during the weekend but there was a small part missing, so we expect it to be fixed by tonight or tomorrow (Tuesday) morning."
Sloan Smith, Guardian Staff Reporter
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