HANOVER, Jamaica —Word that employees of the National Water Commission (NWC) are expected to be back on the job Wednesday night should be welcome news for Errol Ellis who could not get a wound dressed earlier in the day. He had made the short trip from Montpellier to the Sandy Bay Health Centre to get medical care.

“I think the authorities should go all the miles to make sure seh water is at the clinic so that the patient and the staff can feel comfortable,” Ellis argued.

It was later announced that an agreement had been reached that would see the NWC’s 2,000 workers back on the job starting with the night shift on Wednesday. But for many, like Ellis, the damage had already been done.

One woman, who gave her name as Puto, strongly voiced her anger when she found operations scaled down at the Sandy Bay health facility. She was left unable to fill her prescription to replenish a supply that had run out. She will likely be back on Thursday as she has an appointment scheduled for that day. Hopefully the clinic will be fully operational then. Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in urging NWC workers back to work on Wednesday warned that getting water flowing once more may take some time as it is not as simple as merely turning on a tap.

Sandy Bay is one of three health centres in Hanover that were affected by the water lock off.

On Wednesday morning, day two of the strike, medical officer of health for Hanover, Dr Kaushal Singh, told OBSERVER ONLINE that the Sandy Bay, Cave Valley and Logwood health centres were all on the verge of closure.

Later in the day, Clinical Coordinator for the Western Regional Health Authority, Dr Delroy Fray, said measures were being put in place to truck water to the Hanover facilities and one in St James.

However, Dr Fray said there were no major issues at the four hospitals in the western end of the country as they have water tanks with two days’ worth of supply. They had also begun looking at contingency measures if the strike continued into a third day.

Like the health sector, the educational system in the western end of the island had challenges over the last two days. However on Wednesday head of the ministry of education’s region four, Dr Michelle Pinnock said approximately 87 per cent of schools in St James, Hanover and Westmoreland were open for classes.

She said three per cent had to be closed halfway through the day while the remaining 10 per cent made arrangements for online classes.

“So, we did not have any school that was not open today,” the senior educator stressed.

She noted that because Hanover and Westmoreland usually have water issues, the ministry has always tried to ensure that schools in these parishes have full water tanks.

Pinnock should be among those now breathing a sigh of relief as she indicated, Wednesday, that another day without water would have been a challenge.

Anthony Lewis