Letter to the Editor |05 March 2020

Concern over having isolation centre at Anse Royale

As an inhabitant of South Mahé, particularly of Anse Royale, I would like to voice my concern regarding the isolation centre in the centre of the district which is already considered as Seychelles’ second city, and moving the regional clinic to the community centre.

The isolation centre is situated merely 50 metres from a residential area and busy commercial centre which involve individual households, retail shops, souvenir shops, guest houses, small hotels, restaurants, a market, bank, pharmacy, fish outlet, university, polytechnic, filling station etc. A village church, vegetable farms as well as a popular beach and picnic spot are also located not very far away.

I have talked to various health officers working at Anse Royale and they are also against the decision to have the isolation centre in its present location and to transfer the clinic to the community centre. I can assure that the way they have expressed their views clearly shows that their morale is at the lowest at the moment.

They have informed me that the community centre has not been properly cleaned in order to accommodate the health services. Moreover, there are sanitation issues such as no water connection in most rooms – there is for example no running water in the area used for dressing – and the toilets are broken.

Also, many services which were available at the Anse Royale Health Centre have now simply been cancelled. These include outpatient clinics for chronic diseases such as diabetes and hyper tension as well as other specialised consultations. Patients are simply being informed that their appointment has been cancelled.

I agree that we are taking precautions against the coronavirus. However this should have been properly planned with the isolation centre – as its name rightly suggests – placed in a more isolated area.

With the sad situation at Anse Royale, I fear that the concerned community may be more affected by health issues other than the coronavirus, and that people are in danger of dying from other health conditions for which our health services were well advanced in their treatment and control.

I will end with a question in French:

Quand ça marche dans le bon sens, pourquoi faire marche arrière?

M.S.

Disclaimer :

The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Seychelles NATION newspaper.