Fumes shutter Sanikiluaq health centre

Sanikiluaq’s health centre has been closed since Dec. 14 because of fuel fumes, a source in the community says.

Nurses have set up a makeshift clinic in Nuiyak School while officials from the departments of Health and Social Services and Community and Government Services investigate.

“The nurses have also been working around the clock for over a week now because of the high number of sick children in the community,” the source said in an email.

“We have been having one to three medevacs a day for the past week or more, with some medevacs taking more than one patient at a time.”

In a quote emailed to Nunatsiaq News, Gogi Greeley, the acting assistant deputy minister of operations for Health and Social Services confirmed the health centre was closed.

“In the interim, the health centre is following their emergency plan and running a clinic at the school library. We are working with Community and Government Services to ensure the problem is fixed as soon as possible.”

The department couldn’t say when the problem would be fixed and would not make anyone available for an interview.