AS PART OF efforts to prepare for any suspected cases of Ebola in Barbados, health officials have identified the Enmore Clinic in Collymore Rock, St Michael, as the site for an isolation centre.
This has, however, not gone down well with some parents of children attending the nearby St Angela’s and St Ursula’s schools, as reported in the SATURDAY SUN.
One parent said she would consider moving her child if any patients were moved into the building which is just a few feet away from the Ursuline Convent which houses the schools.
Some online readers felt the parents were overreacting but many shared their concerns.
Here are some of the responses:
Robert Goode: The Enmore Clinic was at the Collymore Rock location for eons, and though I may share some empathy with the parents of children attending the Ursuline Convent, which houses St Angela’s and St Ursula’s schools, my question to them: where do you want it to move to?
Sharon Sealy: The old naval base in St Lucy or even the old St Joseph Hospital would have been better.
Andrea Bascombe: Wherever it is placed, it is always going to be a problem.
Ryan Atherley: The old naval base in St Lucy would’ve been ideal to properly isolate any disease outbreak. Also, the transportation of the patients could also be done via boat. It doesn’t make sense to have a quarantined area around the public because security issues, health alerts due to exposure and most of all, capacity and sanitation all come into play.
Olutoye Walrond: There is no disease I know of that is spread by air. And since any Ebola patients at the centre would most certainly not be allowed outside, there should be no need for concern.
Cheryl A. Rollins: Is this the best the ministry could do? Find an isolated location for God’s sake. You are not dealing with the common cold here.
Sinclear Griffith: Keep all people and animals coming from any country with Ebola out of Bim. That’s simple because ’bout here is too small for a slip-up like that.
Alana Salmon Lancaster: Is there somewhere where the clinic can be placed where it won’t be a problem to someone? It’s not airborne, but . . . at 166 square miles, there are not a lot of options, and I am guessing locating it near the QEH is not by mistake.
Asiba Buffalo: Buy a boat big enough to house X amount of people and anchor it off Barbados. Ebola suspects can be transported there immediately. A boat or a barge at sea can house and accommodate people, both patients and medics, where they would be isolated with less likelihood of causing problems on land.
Sonia Bragg: I think that the location and the size is an issue. Once again someone made a decision without consulting those it would affect most.
