The Health Clinic That Still Operates Despite A 20 Year Long Termite Infestation

As you can imagine, termite infestations are particularly frustrating when they occur in medical facilities. Just about everything that you see in a hospital or medical clinic is sanitized in order to prevent the spread of bacteria. Once a termite infestation occurs, patients tend to regard their heavily sanitized surroundings as being tainted or compromised by filthy termites. In some cases of insect infestations in hospitals, patients have to be evacuated and relocated to different medical facilities. This is not an easy task to pull-off. It should go without saying that a termite infestation would be eradicated in a medical facility as soon as it was discovered. However, this is not always the case, as a scenario in Jamaica has proven. The Balaclava Health Center in Jamaica has functioned for twenty years despite being infested with termites during that entire time.

After two full decades of constant termite activity within the Balaclava Medical Center a newly renovated center has just been opened. However, some believe that the new renovations will not suffice to keep termites away from the building. Even Councillor Everton Fisher, who represents the Balaclava Division, has stated that the old medical center had sustained twenty full years of termite damage. The extensive termite damage cannot be easily fixed with a minimal renovation. The medical center building has been renovated twice in the past, yet the termite infestation remained. In 2007 the building was refurbished and all of the invading termites were eradicated. Unfortunately, by 2013 termites infested the building once again. The original termite treatments may have been insufficient at killing all the active termites in the building. The building’s timber-made roof provided termites with a major food source. Now, the new renovation had the timber roof replaced with concrete. In addition to that, portions of the building’s foundation were reinforced with concrete. Hopefully this will be enough to prevent further termite infestations, but if termites do return to the medical center, the staff and patients will likely carry on as always.

Do you believe that termite infestations in medical centers or hospitals can compromise the health of patients?