Government officials led by Prime Minister, the Hon. Philip Davis traveled to Eleuthera on Wednesday for a ground breaking ceremony for a new clinic to be located in Palmetto Point.

Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville was at the ceremony where he outlined some of the amenities of the new facility.  He said, “it will consist of the main clinic which has an attached morgue, stand alone medical waste building and stand alone emergency service quarters. Additionally, specialized areas will include a dental room, a fully modernized surgical suite, two overnight recovery beds on a ward and a comprehensive care program that will be established on the island.”

During his remarks the Prime Minister told attendees that clinics around the country are being renovated to ensure that access to health care in any of the islands is equal to that in New Providence.

Carey’s Construction has been selected to build the estimated 14,000 square feet facility at a cost of approximately $8.8 million.  Contractor, John Carey expects to begin work on the project in the coming days.  He said, “one of the setbacks would be, as you know,  we can’t control the weather, that’s number one.  Number two, you know we just had a disaster in Florida so could we get the material what we want, when we want it, how we want it.  So that might be a lil setup but all these is possible with God.”

For his part, Member of Parliament for South and Central Eleuthera and Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs, the Hon. Clay Sweeting told the gather, “for the last few years Eleuthera has seen the growth of private medical facilities  throughout the island and this is a positive indication that medical facilities are must needed.  And this facility will service the people of the island that cannot really afford private health care.”

While at the groundbreaking the health minister also revealed plans for the construction of a clinic in Rock Sound.