Above, from left: Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham (BIS Photo/Patrick Hanna)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The opening of the new Inagua Community Health Centre in Matthew Town, Inagua is part of a number of newly-built centres in the Bahamas aimed at consolidating access to health care, according to Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

“The completion of this centre will allow Inagua and the people of Inagua to play a pivotal role should there be any severe hurricanes or any other medical disaster and/or emergencies,” Dr Minnis said.

“We recognize that citizens and residents in the family islands want to have the same access to specialist care as those of us who reside in New Providence and Grand Bahama and soon, and very soon, we will expand that facility,” he said.

That expansion will mean that Bahamians in the Family Islands will not have to travel to New Providence or the United States to see a specialist.

In November, the Bahamas began construction on a new critical care block at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, the single-largest investment in healthcare infrastructure at the site in 60 years.