Africa-Press – Mauritius. The new Eastern Suburb Community Health Centre at St François Xavier, to the tune of Rs 40 million, will be constructed to provide better health care facilities to the people of St François Xavier and its neighbouring areas.
In this context, the laying of foundation stone of the Community Health Centre was held, this evening, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth; the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Local Government, Disaster and Risk Management, Dr Mohammad Anwar Husnoo; the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Jagutpal; and other personalities.
In his address, Prime Minister Jugnauth underscored that access to essential health care services is a fundamental right while recalling Government’s firm commitment in providing better health care facilities for the population.
This new Health Centre, he emphasised, will provide better health care facilities as well as improve health care access in the region. Mr Jugnauth pointed out that Government is investing massively in improving healthcare adding that several projects have already been implemented while others are in the pipeline.
These include: the conversion of the old stone wooden structure of the ENT Hospital into a new modern hospital; and construction of a Cardiac Center in Côte d’Or and an Eye Hospital at Réduit in the near future.
In the same vein, the Prime Minister reiterated his firm determination to complete all projects planned despite the difficult situation that Mauritius is facing following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government, he said, is introducing a policy to give all possible care to the population through proper trained healthcare personnel and equipment.
As regards the COVID-19 pandemic, he underlined that Government has spent much resources on the Wage Assistance Scheme and Self Employed Assistance Scheme, a first of their kinds in the country, in a bid to preserve jobs and boost economic activities.
On this score, he appealed to people who have not yet been vaccinated to do so so as to protect themselves from the severe impact of the pandemic and encouraged those already inoculated with two doses to get the booster dose.
“At the government level, we will do our third dose to set an example,” he said.
Prime Minister Jugnauth also highlighted that the practice of a regular physical activity and healthy eating habits are important to maintain a healthy lifestyle as well as to curb the increasing number of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes among the population.
He further deplored that only a handful of the population practice a regular physical activity or a sport. He thus appealed to the population to give more importance to their health and to adopt a sports culture for their own benefit and the country at large.
A healthy population can contribute more significantly to the socio-economic development of a country, he added. For his part, Dr Husnoo underlined that Government is determined to provide quality services to all citizens by placing health care at the core of its agenda.
The new Eastern Suburb Community Health Centre, he highlighted, will be equipped with several new facilities and is expected to be completed in March 2022.
Minister Husnoo lauded the Ministry of Health and Wellness for its efforts in providing the best medical care to the population through the implementation of major infrastructural works in the health care sector and by investing massively in state-of-the-art technology and equipment.
The objective, he underlined, is for the inhabitants of the region and the neighbouring regions to benefit from health care facilities that are provided at the hospitals across the country thereby connecting them to better health care services closer to home. He enumerated the various achievements and new projects in the pipeline regarding his constituency.
They are namely: the construction of a new Municipal Centre at the Military Road to the tune of Rs 6 million; a synthetic football ground at Plaine Verte; the renovation of the Idriss Goomany Centre and the Plaine Verte Swimming Pool; and construction of drainage systems to prevent floods at Canal Anglais.
As for Dr Jagutpal, he underlined that the government wants to provide a proximity-based service adding that this modern Health Center remains a first in the region that has been finalised despite the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Health Minister further dwelt on projects which have been and will be developed as regards the healthcare sector. The objective, he said, is to improve the quality and responsiveness of healthcare services as well as enable better continuity of care and diagnosis of diseases, and optimal information exchange to support better health outcome.
These are: the inauguration of the Baie du Tombeau Community Health Centre and the Petite Riviere Area Health Centre; two new Dental Clinics at Sainte Croix and Odette Leal in Beau Bassin; a Cooling Therapy system for premature babies; 24/7 Primary Percutaneous Coronary Interventions; Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeries for varicose veins, gallbladder stones, and appendicitis; a new laboratory at the Brown Sequard Hospital and; a new Rehabilitation Centre for victims of drugs.
In addition, he indicated that existing facilities and resources are also being reinforced. A total of 813 Nursing staff have benefitted from a Top-up programme to obtain their National Diploma in Nursing to be followed by an additional 400 staff while 41 staff obtained certificates in Healthcare Assisting.
Furthermore, 60 trainee midwives completed a certificate in Basic Midwifery; 96 ambulance drivers completed a First Aid Course; and five staff trained for a Certificate Course in Speech and Hearing Therapy Assisting.
Other services, such as coaching for parents who want to conceive a child or for people who want to get out of the scourge of smoking are also available in hospitals, he recalled.
