Regional Three Officials and the Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings took the decision to temporarily close the Leonora Diagnostic Centre following flooding of the facility’s lower flat, the Department of Public Information (DPI) reported this evening.
The hospital’s compound has at least 14 inches of water after high tides overtopped the seawalls in some areas along the West of Demerara Coast (WCD).
DPI said that following an assessment by Minister Cummings and the Regional Health Officer, it has been determined that Mildred Cox-Younge Health Centre, also known as the Den Amstel Health Centre, over the next three to seven days will function in place of the Leonora facility, seeing outpatients as well as emergency cases while the West Demerara Regional Hospital will take the more serious cases.
Senior Health Visitor (ag) at the Health Centre, Bhagpattie Ramnarine said that the health centre’s capacity is adequate to address the needs of the nearby communities, as well as the affected hospital in the interim, while the Leonora diagnostic centre remains closed.
