ARS Director-General Valérie Denux. Photo by Agathe Mathie.
MARIGOT--Louis-Constant Fleming Hospital is among three hospitals to benefit from a cash injection from a government hospital assistance plan announced by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Health Minister Agnès Buzin in September 2019. The other two beneficiaries are hospitals in Guadeloupe.
According to regional health authority ARS, the 300,000 euros is to be used for purchasing essential equipment and small materials to assist health care professionals in their daily work, or for small construction projects. The financial boost has been welcomed by the hospital, as it was placed under provisional administration in April 2019.
The French-side hospital and the one in St. Barths now have a new Director General as announced by ARS Director-General Valérie Denux at a recent territorial health committee meeting.
Marie-Antoinette Lampis will be in charge of the two hospitals and Bethany Home for senior citizens. She will be assisted by two assistant directors for the hospitals, one for Bethany Home, and one for the senior home in St. Barths.
Meanwhile, Denux said she has advanced 600,000 euros, 50 per cent of the total cost, for repair work to be done at Bethany Home, pending realisation of the new multi-purpose medical centre and senior citizen home planned to open in La Savane in 2022.
Bethany Home was badly damaged during Hurricane Irma. Two of its three buildings will be renovated, accommodating 32 persons, and lifts installed. The work is expected to be finished at the end of the first quarter this year.
ARS also has a mental health project in the works for St. Martin and St. Barths to cover issues of well-being, psychology, psychiatry, addictions, etc. Proposals for this project were forwarded to the Ministry of Mental Health in December 2019.
