Climate smart Mandeville Comprehensive Health Centre dubbed a success

By Kimone Witter 

   

The Southern Regional Health Authority has dubbed as successful the initiative undertaken to retrofit the Mandeville Comprehensive Health Centre in Manchester to make it climate smart and more resilient to natural disasters.

 

The upgraded facility was reopened July last year.

 

Regional Director of the SRHA, Michael Bent, says the clinic was able to withstand the onslaught of Hurricane Beryl in July this year, which affected mostly southern parishes. 

 

"One objective of this smart facility is to build resilience, to increase resilience, of health facilities so that we can have continuity of services in times of natural disasters or in adverse situations. And during the Hurricane Beryl, this facility stood up. Certainly, we had a generator. It was running for weeks, and so we were able to continue to have these services here," he recounted.   

 

Mr. Bent said the health centre has been able to cut its monthly water bill by 95 per cent - from about $200,000 to approximately $10,000 - since investing in a rainwater harvesting system. 

 

He shared the information following a tour of the comprehensive clinic with representatives of the Pan American Health Authority and the British High Commission on Wednesday.

 

The clinic was upgraded through partnership with the British High Commission, which funded the project, the Ministry of Health and PAHO.

 

The Mandeville Comprehensive Clinic is one of two such facilities within the SHRA, the other being in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth.

 

Mr. Bent said there are similar plans for other health facilities in the region.