The health facility located at Nugent Avenue that was constructed to house any
over-spill from the COVID-19 outbreak, is to be repurposed to house a Sickle Cell
clinic.
The announcement by Information Minister Melford Nicholas came on Thursday
during the post-Cabinet press briefing. This came out of discussions on Wednesday
between members of the Cabinet and Dr. Edda Hadeed, President of the Antigua
and Barbuda Sickle Cell Association.
The Cabinet report said Dr. Hadeed was invited to its meeting to discuss Sickle
Cell Anemia as a healthcare challenge in Antigua and Barbuda. The Doctor
pointed out that pain management is one of the greatest challenges faced by those
who have the full-blown disease.
Sickle Cell has been described as a disease inherited from parents and it is a blood
condition with pain which affects all aspects of a patient’s life. During a crisis,
oxygen is cut off in the blood with the potential for harm to many of the organs
within the body.
It was revealed that one out of every five persons in Antigua and Barbuda carries
the trait, and about 1,000 sickle cell patients rely on medicines to help them to
manage the pain.
The Cabinet agreed that a clinic dedicated to treating Sickle Cell patients, will be
established at the Nugent Avenue facility, which has been idle since the initial
repurposing during the pandemic.
The primary objective of the clinic is to arrange to treat the pain experienced by a
patient during a crisis as quickly as possible by diverting the patients from the
hospital to this specialized facility. It was emphasised that harm to a patient’s
organs can be minimized by early intervention.
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