Close to 150 residents turned out last night to have their voices heard on the planned closure of the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre in St David’s.

Area MP Lovitta Foggo, who organised the town hall meeting at Clearwater Middle School said to date 2,200 signatures against the move have been collected.

The petition will remain open with a view to presenting it to the Minister of Health, Patricia Gordon Pamplin before the end of the month.

Flanked by Shadow Minister of Health Zane DeSilva and Derrick Burgess, Ms Foggo vowed to press on with plans to oppose the planned closure.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the public for their support. It was an excellent turnout to the meeting,” she said. “Everyone spoke to the need for the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre to remain open.

“Indeed some cogent arguments were forwarded for its continued and extended service.

“The public generally, and east enders particularly, deserve no less. The meeting ended with the commitment by those who attended to march if necessary and do whatever, to ensure it remains open.”

Quoting them, she said: “Closure is not an option, we will keep it open.”

Mr DeSilva received a loud round of applause when he said: “Lord help us if we should ever have a major catastrophe down at this end of the Island. We want this Urgent Care Centre to stay open.

“There’s no way any of us in this room want to say ‘if we would have had it open my mother, my father, my child, my cousin, my brother, my neighbour wouldn’t have died if the centre was there’. I don’t want that on my shoulders.”

Offering ideas for solutions, he came in for another loud round of applause when he suggested that perhaps it’s time to move the clinic in St George’s to the Urgent Care Centre in St David’s.

And he said the Bermuda Hospitals Board executive staff can afford to take a 20 percent pay cut to pay for the centre to remain open.

“I know what they make, I was the former Minister,” he said.

Mr DeSilva also proposed a national lottery to generate funds to run the East End medical facility.

“You would know that the OBA said they would have a referendum in the first quarter of next year on gaming in Bermuda.

“I would suggest they get on with it. And one of the first things they should do is start a lottery. Let’s take the money, the excess funds from that lottery and put it into things like the Lambe Foggo Urgent Care Centre.”

Ms Foggo, in her address said: “This meeting is being held because a great many of you insisted that a public meeting be held so that many of you could voice you concerns.”

She asked members of the audience to say, by a show of hands, whether they have used the centre for treatment. A large number of members of the audience raised their hands. “We know the importance of having this centre and the service that it provides in this area, even if you come from as far across the bridge in Somerset.

“I can’t tell you the countless people who do come from the west who have stopped me to say do everything you can to keep this centre open.

“They bypass King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to get the quality care that this centre provides,” she said.

“Those of us who live in the east have a unique situation, particularly in times of bad weather because even if nothing happens with the Causeway, usually it is closed.

“Many of us have been to KEMH and know the long hours we spend waiting to be seen.

“The whole purpose behind the centre, besides just providing this community with a much needed service was also to extend the service coming from the hospital to augment that service.

“It is clear that it is an essential service. It is a much needed service and no one could argue against something that enhances the quality of service.”

Given the outcry of the people she said the centre must be kept open.

“There was 100 percent support for it to remain open,” said Ms Foggo.

“It’s not too late to change that and people are still amazed that there is consideration of closing the facility based on $250,000 deficit.

“You can’t put a price on the value of a life,” she said.

“We’re still collecting signatures and the petition will remain open for signatures until next week. And then we plan to present it to the BHB Chairman and the Minister.”

City resident Eugene Stovell was one of many to air their views last night.

“I couldn’t believe when they said the Bermuda Hospitals Board made the decision to close the centre when there’s at least three or four people on that board who are OBA,” he said.

“I was insulted!”

Another area resident, Albert Fox said his family history in St David’s goes back to the 1600s.

Historically, he said having a hospital at the East End of the Island is nothing new.

He noted that the US Naval Bases in Bermuda established a hospital at the east end some time ago.

And he lamented a repeat of the massive fire that erupted as a result of the explosion of oil tanks in the 1970s.

Said Mr Fox: “Shutting down the centre by the name of Lamb Foggo is synonymous with shutting down Trimingham’s Hill and we all know that would never happen.”