AS a result of on-going modification to the facilities of the Bartica Regional Hospital to withstand the threat of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) to the township, the MCH Clinic (Bartica Health Centre) has been removed from its original building in the Bartica Hospital Compound, and is now housed at the Bartica Special Needs School Building, located at Seventh Avenue.

Superintendent of the Bartica Regional Hospital, Dr. Jillian Jardine, said that the building located in the hospital compound is better suited to be transformed into an isolation facility, in the event of COVID-19 infections at Bartica.

The idea of having pregnant women, babies and toddlers attend clinic away from the hospital environs is a great one, in the interest of safeguarding them from the possibility of exposure to infectious diseases.

The new Health Centre will be operational, effective from Wednesday, April 8, 2020.
In addition to the movement of the Health Centre, the Regional Health Emergency Committee of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region, which includes Bartica, met on Monday, April 6, 2020, at the Regional Democratic Council Boardroom, for its scheduled meeting.

The agenda discussed included: the project to create a number of re-usable face masks for public distribution; the enforcement of national public orders at Bartica, especially for speedboats, buses and businesses; traffic restrictions at some points of entry at Bartica; doctors to be deployed to interior locations namely Iteringbang and Puruni; preparation of building for medical quarantine and isolation; national order for public servants work schedule; hospital protocols for the handling of persons deceased due to suspected COVID-19 infection; educational outreaches to other communities across the region; and the list of pensioners and other vulnerable groups to be sent to the CDC.

The committee meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, 2020.

Mayor of the town, Gifford Marshall, has said, on countless occasions, that the council and the committee’s main agenda at present is keeping the people safe, and the township, virus free.

The Regional Chairman, Gordon Bradford, said too that the team is committed to ensuring that the virus stays out of the entire region, by taking every precaution, and doing what is necessary.