Parents demand Ebola Centre be removed

By Caribbean Medical News Staff
Barbadian parents turned up in their hundreds to demand answers from the Ministry of Health as to why a Centre to treat potential patients with the Ebola virus is near the environs of at least four schools. Those schools include St. Michael’s Secondary, St. Ursula’s Convent, St. Angela’s Primary and St. Gabriel’s School.
In fact, one parent broke down and cried demanding that the Centre not be placed within such close proximity to children.
The upset parents said that he was asking other parents to join him in filing an injunction against the Ministry of Health so that the Ebola Isolation Centre at Enmore (which is almost complete) is not erected.
The Centre is a stone’s throw away from the Ursuline Convent schools at Collymore Rock, St Michael and is visible from the pool at the school.
Over 400 upset parents voiced their concerns and loudly objected to the Centre being placed “on the frontlines of their children’s’ lives”.
The four-bed isolation Centre is located at Enmore on the fringes of Bridgetown and a short walk away from the lone Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Residents of Martindale’s Road opposite the hospital also voiced their concerns in separate interviews saying that they were never consulted by the Ministry of Health or any officials from Government.
“It’s like they don’t care” said one woman who preferred to remain anonymous. “None of them (ministers) don’t live out here (sic)”, she continued.
The Parents at the Town Hall meeting were upset and suggested that the Centre be placed at the old St. Joseph Hospital in Ashton Hall in St Peter which is no longer in use and is not in such close proximity to schools or residents.
The Ebola Centre at the Enmore Clinic is just a stone’s throw away from the compound of the St Angela’s and St Ursula’s schools which schools infant children.
”If it means I have to spend my last cent, I’m going to see my lawyer and bring an injunction against this,” the upset parent said to deafening applause at the St. Ursula’s School Hall. Irate parents filled the hall to meet senior Ministry of Health officials including Permanent Secretary Tennyson Springer, Chief Medical Officer Dr Joy St John and infectious disease specialist Dr Corey Forde.
Despite their reassurances, the parents remained adamant and upset and demanded the closure of the Enmore Centre. The atmosphere was charged with parents pointedly accusing health officials of placing their children in harm’s way.