LAMBS RIVER, Westmoreland — An out-of-order toilet at the Lambs River Heath Clinic in Westmoreland is forcing patients to resort to the back of the building to relieve themselves, even as the authorities there caution against unhygienic practices.

“Wash hands often to help prevent diseases…please flush toilet after you use it…bathroom out of use…” the conflicting notices mock the reality that there has been no water at the clinic for quite some time now.

When the Observer West visited the clinic Tuesday, two mothers who took their babies for a check-up had to exit the building and head around the back to urinate, Another escorted her son in the same direction for the same purpose.

“Them claim the toilet is not working,” one of the mothers told the Observer West.

Personnel at the health centre explained that they were unauthorised to comment on the situation and directed the Observer West to their superior Hyacinth Bantin, the parish administrator.

According to the clinic authorities, Bantin had instructed them to direct the Observer West to her Savanna-la-Mar office for an interview. However, minutes later when the Observer West arrived at Bantin’s office, she was said to be locked in a meeting in nearby Whitehouse.

Luther Buchanan, the member of parliament for Eastern Westmoreland which includes Lambs River– a quiet farming community near Darliston–the health clinic’s plight is not unique. He said a severe drought has left several schools and other institutions in his constituency without water for the past four months.

Citing the absence of the Rapid Response water trucks which customarily truck water during periods of drought, Buchanan is calling on Minister of Water and Housing Dr Horace Chang to provide an allowance to the Westmoreland Parish Council to truck water to the affected areas.

“The drought is affecting health clinics, Lambs River in particular. They don’t have a gallon of water to flush or to wash their hands. They are about to close,” Buchanan told the Observer West.

“We have been experiencing drought for the past four months now, but it has worsened since the last two months. It is becoming increasingly difficult to cope as the weather pattern worsens: no rainfall,” he lamented.

The MP is further requesting “clarity as to who is responsible to provide water for schools not connected to the National Water Commission pipelines”.

To underscore the negative impact that the lack of water has on agriculture and households in the communities, Buchanan outlined that persons have to be using the toilet twice before flushing it.

“There might be more cases like that but people are afraid to talk because people will see them as nasty,” Buchanan said.

Nevertheless, Buchanan who is also a People’s National Party (PNP) deputy general secretary, praised the Westmoreland Parish Council which is controlled by his party, for their “gallant effort to provide water to as many communities in the parish, without water as possible with its one truck.”