Roughly 30 doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff at the South Beach Clinic held an urgent press conference yesterday outside of the facility to air out their grievances in regards to a malfunctioning air conditioning system.

President of The Doctor’s Union Dr. Charles Clarke added that the condition is not only unsuitable to work in, but also to host patients.

“It has come to attention of the Bahamas Doctors Union, that the air condition and ventilation system in the south wing of the South Beach Clinic has been erratically non-functional for some months. The south wing is where ambulatory adult care, chronic non-communicable disease education and Dentistry are performed.

“On average, the doctors and the dentists see up to 200 persons per day in the facility, which now places us in a difficult situation and we would like to express our concerns to the powers that be. And one could argue that the last days of summer are upon us, but there is something to be said about basic human comforts.

“This issue is not by any means insignificant either. This facility is a major thoroughfare for an increasing cross-section of our population that is seeking the care touted in the NHI legislation. This is an issue of healthcare strengthening. And although I am a physician, my concerns are not just for the physicians or the dentists. My concern extends to all the Allied Nursing staff and most importantly our patients.

Dr. Clarke added the he has reached out to several ministry officials but up to this date he has not received any follow-ups.

“I myself have made several attempts to call the Director of Public Health Ms. Charlene Bain among others to address the matter. And still await the courtesy return call. I believe that too often we as Bahamians sit back and allow things that we have been made stewards of to fall into disrepair.

“It has become a common thing for us to accept it has become the modus operands to sing a swan song and pray the situation would just vanish. Today we say no. It stops here. We can do better and we are calling on the Bahamas Government, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Works and any other department to address this matter ASAP.

“Indeed, we took this principle stand this morning that we will not work under these conditions and we had the support of many of the patients of this clinic,” Dr. Clarke said.

Dr. Clarke added that while the workers are not striking, they suggest that until the matter is dealt with in the interim, patients be directed to the Flamingo Gardens Clinic and any other nearby facilities.