The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A BROKEN air conditioning system has forced vaccines and medication out of the High Rock Clinic, leaving East Grand Bahama residents without pharmacy and vaccination services at the facility and requiring patients to travel to Freeport for care.

The modular clinic, a retrofitted trailer that serves residents in several East End settlements, has become hot and stifling inside, raising concerns about patient care and working conditions.

During a visit on Thursday, The Tribune found fans running inside the facility, but the interior remained uncomfortably hot. Some lights had been turned off to help reduce the temperature.

The heat has disrupted core services at the clinic.

For several months, no pharmacist has been stationed at the High Rock Clinic. Medication has now been removed from the facility because of heat exposure concerns, preventing patients from filling prescriptions there.

Patients must travel to Freeport to get prescribed medicines.

Vaccinations have also been paused because vaccines were removed from the clinic due to heat risks and concerns about a faulty generator.

Parents and families who need immunisations must travel about 30 miles to Freeport to have children vaccinated.

The loss of medication and vaccination services has created hardship for residents of High Rock and surrounding communities, particularly elderly patients and families with young children.

Residents and staff want health officials to urgently restore the air conditioning, ensure reliable backup power and return medication and vaccine services to the clinic.

The Tribune contacted Public Hospitals Authority managing director Aubynette Rolle and the hospital administrator at Grand Bahama Health Services for comment, but calls were not returned up to press time.