A new Area Health Centre in Petite RiviAre to the tune of Rs 38 million will be constructed to provide better health care facilities to the people of Petite RiviAre and its neighbouring areas. The laying of foundation stone of the Area Health Centre was held yesterday in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Mr Ivan Collendavelloo; the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Dr Anwar Husnoo; the Minister of Tourism, Mr Anil Gayan; and other personalities.
In his address, Mr Collendavelloo highlighted that Government is working towards providing the best medical treatment to the population and bring over foreign doctors and experts for advanced medical cases. The new Area Health Centre, he emphasised, will provide better health care facilities as well as improve health care access in the region.
Speaking on drugs scourge and offensive driving, which are impacting negatively on the society, he said that Government will deploy all means to combat them. According to him, erosion of values and the emergence of new types of drugs have resulted in an increase in drug consumption in particular among the youth.
As regards road safety, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that riders of motorised two-wheelers and pedestrians account for the greater number of road fatalities. He highlighted that Government has implemented the Auto-Motorcycle Driving School project to instil discipline in motorcyclists by providing them appropriate training in view to decrease the number of road accidents. On this score, he urged elders to educate the youth on the social plague of drugs and the importance of road safety so as to make of Mauritius a cleaner and safer place.
For his part, Minister Husnoo underlined that Government is determined to provide quality services to all citizens by placing health care at the core of its agenda. The new Area Health Centre at Petite RiviAre, he highlighted, will be equipped with several new facilities and is expected to be completed by December 2018. The inhabitants of the region and the neighbouring regions will benefit from health care facilities that are provided at the hospitals across the island thereby connecting them to better health care services closer to home, he added.
The Health Minister pointed out that Government is investing massively to improve health care. He enumerated the various achievements and new projects in the pipeline regarding the health sector. They are namely the construction of three new Mediclinics at Quartier Militaire, Bel Air and Stanley as well as New Area health Centres; a new ENT Hospital, a new Cancer Hospital at Solferino in Vacoas; a new hospital at Flacq; an Eye Hospital at Reduit; a modern Warehouse Facility for pharmaceutical drugs and medical consumables; as well as the upgrading of the Yves Cantin Community Hospital in Black River.
Minister Gayan lauded the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life for its efforts in providing the best medical care to the population through the implementation of major infrastructural works in the health care sector and by investing massively in state-of-the-art technology and equipment. The objective, he underlined, is for the population to get the best health care services in the country and also to reduce the cases of patients going abroad for medical interventions.
Source: Government of Mauritius