Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), Rand Memorial Hospital and Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre sustained damage totaling over $700,000 during Hurricane Matthew, according to Managing Director of the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) Herbert Brown.

Brown said though the facilities suffered roof damage and window damage, they are in operation.

"Collectively, when we put altogether the roof damage at PMH, at the Rand Memorial and Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre, it is estimated that the damage is at about $740,000," Brown said.

"We are seeking to solicit funding to be able to deal with that damage.

"But in the interim, we made temporary repairs to our roofs and we are pleased to say our services have been restored."
Many customers were left without power supply after the storm, including the hospitals. Power has been restored to all three facilities.

But some clinics in Grand Bahama that were damaged are still not in operation.

"The clinic, the temporary healthcare facility in West Grand Bahama that was severely damaged, has now been taken out of operation, but I'm pleased to report that we... identified another facility and the services for West Grand Bahama will be restored by Monday of next week," Brown said.

"In the interim, we have consolidated the services from West End clinic and Eight Mile Rock together so those persons from West End will come to the Eight Mile Rock clinic until the clinic in West End is completed.

"As you know, where we are going will be temporary because the new facility that we are constructing in West End will be completed fully by the end of December, so we will be able to move into our new expanded facilities that will provide greater comfort for patients and our staff.

"With respect to damage in Grand Bahama, we also experienced damage to our hospital but we also had some damage to one of our other facilities, which we refer to as Davies House, where mammography and ophthalmology were housed.

"I'm pleased to say workers already started to do that and we expect that in the next seven days renovations in that facility would've been completed."

Brown said the public healthcare facilities could have suffered worse damage had officials not been as prepared as they were.

"We could have had much more severe damage if we didn't have a plan in place before prior to the storm," he said.

"I think it is as a result of our plans we were able to be in a position to restore services almost immediately after the storm."

Jayme C. Pinder, Guardian Staff Reporter

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