THE health ministry should know by today the preliminary estimates of the damage its facilities across the island sustained as a result of the passage of Hurricane Dean two Sundays ago, according to Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse, the ministry’s director of emergency disaster management and special services.

“We are still doing it (damage assessment) and now we have over 100 facilities that suffered damage, but tomorrow (today) we will have the full report in terms of the damage and the preliminary estimates,” she said.

The facilities that suffered the most damage were the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston; Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth; Lionel Town Hospital and Chapelton Hospital, Clarendon; Buff Bay Community Hospital and Port Antonio Hospital, Portland; and the Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea.

“For most of them it was roof damage,” said Dr DuCasse. “The roofs are temporarily covered and we have preliminary estimates to start doing the permanent repairs now,” she said.

However, Dr DuCasse said with the exception of the Lionel Town Hospital in Clarendon, all of the island’s hospitals were offering full service to the public. She added that 258 of the 304 health centres across the island were operational. The others, she said, still needed to get back electricity and water supplies.

Most hospitals islandwide were forced to scale back services in preparation for the passage of Hurricane Dean, which passed south of the island two Sundays ago, but still left a trail of damage. Some hospitals discharged some patients, cancelled out-patient clinics and elective surgeries, and were accepting only emergency cases before the hurricane struck.

Meanwhile, Dr DuCasse said the ministry continued to conduct environmental assessments to ensure that persons were not exposed to diseases that could arise as a result of the pile-up of debris and the accumulation of stagnant water following the passage of the hurricane.

“We continue our environmental health assessment and we have started our vector control programme islandwide and we are working in the most affected areas first,” she explained. “Portland Cottage has had fogging. we have others, but we are working stage by stage.”