–displaces four Health Ministry departments

FIRE of unknown origin completely destroyed the Ministry of Health Annexe popularly known as the “Medex Building” at Liliendaal, lower East Coast Demerara, in the wee hours of yesterday morning.

The Guyana Chronicle was informed that the Guyana Fire Service is as yet unable to determine the cause of the blaze, although persons in the area are suggesting that it may be electrical in nature.

That Medex Building, once towering several feet above the seawall at Liliendaal, had been standing there for many years. It got its name when the Medex Programme was introduced as part of the USAID Programme which trained persons to function between the “sisters’ and doctors” at the hospital. Over the years, the building had been used to accommodate several departments of the Ministry of Health. Four departments which were housed there were the Division of Health Sciences Education, Food Policy Unit, Environmental Health, and Veterinary Public Health.

The building recently underwent a massive renovation exercise by the Ministry of Health.

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr Trevor Thomas, told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that with the exception of the Department of Health Sciences, the work of the other three departments was primarily file-based and driven, since the persons working in those departments are in the fields 95% of the time.

The Medex Complex was mainly used as an administrative centre for the other three programmes, Thomas informed the Chronicle; and among the items lost to the fire are the personal records of individuals which had been kept by the three departments, equipment mainly belonging to the Department of Health Sciences Education, and furnishings which were placed in the general building.

Asked where the displaced staff would be relocated, Thomas reminded that field workers are not always in office. However, in the interim, the personnel from the Department of Health Sciences Education are being housed at the Ministry of Health, while aggressive efforts are being made to secure a permanent place to have the staff of the four departments relocated.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the fire scene at dayclean yesterday, the fire was completely extinguished but firefighters were still dousing the embers. Nothing was saved from the building, even though some partly burnt paper was seen among the rubble.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle told the Guyana Chronicle that his department received the 911 call at approximately 03:27 hours on Tuesday morning, and firefighters in tenders from Alberttown, Campbellville and the Central Fire Station immediately responded to the emergency call.
He said the fire was fuelled by high winds coming from the ocean.

(By Leroy Smith)