$49m health centre for Diego Martin

A DIABETES wellness centre – a one-stop location for all diabetic services – will be part of the services offered at the new $49 million Diego Martin Health centre which is being built on Wendy Fitzwilliam Boulevard.

This was announced by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh earlier today during the sod turning for the facility. "We are clustering all the services a diabetic person needs around the patient so it becomes a one-stop shop for diabetic care."

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Deyalsingh and Diego Martin central MP Darryl Smith turned the sod for the facility, which Deyalsingh said was expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2020. Deyalsingh said the health centre will be a two-storey, 2000 square metre facility and the cost will include building, equipment and a one-year guarantee as well as maintenance for one year.

He said while the health centre would have all of the usual facilities one would expect, it will also be modern and unique and fall in line with PNM manifesto promises regarding healthcare. "We have separated the facility into two parts with separate HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), being cognizant as the world changes and as international travel becomes the norm, more and more viruses and bacteria are just one plane ride away," Deyalsingh said.

"What we have done is put a separate HVAC system in a part of the facility so a part of the facility is fed by a separate heating, ventilation and air conditioning system that could be, in a matter of hours, transformed to an isolation room." He said this was in case people needed to be isolated for things like Ebola or any other infectious disease.

"Our legacy hospitals don't have that. The only isolation facility we have was done hurriedly for the Ebola scare," Deyalsingh said. He also said the health centre would have ultrasound facilities. We will incorporate ultrasound facilities and mental health facilities.

Saying that mental health is the number two challenge facing the world, Deyalsingh said the old Diego Martin clinic will be repurposed into the first mental health wellness clinic in TT, totally dedicated to mental health.