Glanvilles polyclinic officially handed over to residents

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Several officials from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health gathered at the opening ceremony of the Glanvilles Polyclinic yesterday (Photos by Makeida Antonio)
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By Makeida Antonio

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Residents in St Philip’s North and its surrounding areas can finally breathe a sigh of relief as their commute for medical services will soon be significantly reduced following the commissioning ceremony of the Glanvilles polyclinic yesterday.

The event was attended by several government officials and dignitaries to include Minister of Health Sir Molwyn Joseph, MP for the area Sir Robin Yearwood, Chief Medical Officer Dr Rhonda Sealey-Thomas, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Teri-Ann Joseph, Principal Nursing Officer Margaret Smith, and China’s Ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda Zhang Yanling.

Minister Joseph shared his delight in providing more accessible healthcare for the people of the eastern part of the island following a tour of the facility.

“It’s an excellent facility, first world facility, I’m quite impressed. It is like a mini hospital. It is going to have X-rays, CT scans, it has an area for dental services and this is going to be a tremendous addition to our healthcare system,” Joseph said yesterday in a press interview.

He also said that a tremendous burden in obtaining transportation to travel miles into the city for healthcare services that are centralised at the main hospital will soon be lifted off residents’ shoulders.

“All these services would have been obtained in the past by travelling to St John’s. People from this area, Parham, Freetown, Willikies, Glanvilles and Bethesda, can all come here,” he said.

Dr Sealey-Thomas revealed that the Glanvilles polyclinic is set to be fully operational by February and indicated that extended hours will be available once the logistics are finalised.

“We always want to provide services that are accessible to the people and we recognise that some people are unable to access clinic services outside of normal clinic hours so yes that is a part of our plans.

“Of course, there are logistics that we have to work out in terms of staff, security, and those are things that we plan to put in place,” the CMO said yesterday.

Sir Robin thanked the People’s Republic of China for its assistance to the government in building the complex which houses not only the modern polyclinic, but an adjacent community centre as well.

“This is a very welcomed development here in the constituency, not only for the constituency but for the eastern part of the island because it will take patients from Freetown coming right down, Bethesda all that eastern front there, so it is a very useful building,” Yearwood told Observer yesterday.

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