Left: A view of the unkempt yard and board building that houses the Golden Spring Health Centre in west rural St. Andrew. Right: There are days when this small waiting room at the Golden Spring Heath Centre cannot hold all those who turn up for care, especially when child health clinic is held - every second and third Friday of the month. Patients who are lucky to get a seat, rest on hard wooden benches. - PHOTOS BY NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
WHAT'S NOT WORKING:
ALMOST EVERYTHING at the Golden Spring Health Centre which services over eight communities in West Rural St. Andrew.
The only positive about the facility, residents say, are the workers (five community health aides and three nurses) who operate the wooden shack.
First, the archaic board building is just hard to look at. It is in dire need of a fresh coat of paint and structural repairs. There is no perimeter fencing or security personnel to ward off undesirables or the stray dogs, which residents say, litter the compound with their droppings.
The Type One health facility's yard is just a mess. Overgrown vegetation, strips of wood and other debris litter the property.
Mothers who were at the clinic on the day of our visit told The Gleaner that when it rains the compound is transformed into a mini-swamp.
And even persons inside the wooden shack get wet.
In addition, the windows and grills are being eaten by rust. There is a hole in the wooden floor that affords a peak on the nasty underbelly of the building.
Residents claimed that the property does not have landline telephone service. However, the parish office denied the claim.
SYNOPSIS OF THE SITUATION:
THE GOLDEN Spring Health Centre is a devastating disappointment and an incalculable indictment on the Government, especially the Minister of Health John Junor and his ministry. The person who alerted The Gleaner to the despicable situation likened the health centre to a 'goat shed'.
The informant also alleged that "nursing and lactating mothers sit on the roadside to breastfeed due to the deplorable conditions of the so-called goat shed".
The mothers who were at the health centre when The Gleaner visited said that there were days when the small waiting room could not hold all those who turned up for the child health clinic every second and third Friday of the month. One mother said that there are days that they and their children have to stand for two hours while waiting to see the nurse. Sometimes, the wait is in the rain. On other days, the blistering heat inside the
little 'health hut' reduces the children to tears.
