Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville responded to a video released online by the Member of Parliament for East Grand Bahama, Kwasi Thompson on Thursday.
In the video Thompson raises concern about a malfunctioning air conditioning system at a clinic in High Rock. Standing in front of the facility Thompson said, “the first thing that hits you is the heat in the waiting area. You have a number of units that are not working in the High Rock Clinic.”
In response, Dr. Darville assured that the issue was not due to negligence and that the air conditioning has been repaired after replacement parts were received. He said, “I have ninety clinics and through the ninety clinics we’re gonna have air condition problems. At the hospital, at the clinics, it happens at your own home. When they break we need to repair them. Sometimes the repair is simple. Sometimes we need to work on the supplier. Sometimes we have to work for the contractor to get there on time.”
The Minister said the release of the video by Thompson was an attempt to score political points and that work to repair the system was underway, with parts ordered, before the video was posted. “That’s the whole purpose of the video, to try to make it seem as because I complained they fixed it, that’s not so. These things happen and if you get there and speak about it before the repairs are completed it always creates the political impression that I am putting pressure on the Ministry of Health to repair the air condition. If I have a clinic, I have to have the air condition going. So when the air condition break, its my responsibility to fix it. I wish I could fix it that same time it breaks. It’s not that simple all the time. It requires purchasing. It requires replacing. And so by home pointing it out to me he did not point out something that we didn’t know. The process was already in trend,” Dr. Darville said.
The East Grand Bahama MP also claimed that Pharmacists were not being paid mileage. According to the health minister that issue has also been resolved.
