DOMLEC donated a new EC $80,000 dialysis machine to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) on Friday

​Dominica’s sole electricity company DOMLEC, donated a new dialysis machine which cost just under EC $80,000, to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) on Friday. The donation also included a dialysate meter to monitor the functions of the dialysis machine, as well as a chair recliner, so that the patients can be comfortable lying down, while they receive their dialysis.
 
Board member of DOMLEC, Adler Hamlet, who spoke at the presentation ceremony, said the dialysis machine has been very dear to him. He explained that in 2012, he learnt while visiting a very good friend who was a patient at the PMH, that he was a low priority for dialysis, as he was over 65. Hamlet said he did some research, and found out that the there was a shortage of dialysis machines at the hospital, and persons 65 and older had to wait at the end of the line.
 
He said, “Immediately, I went to the Rotary Club and made a presentation to the club that we need to help the hospital. Let us provide for the older people and bring them up in line with the others. I put forward a project for the club, and we sought to put a committee together, and made representation to the PMH, so that we could get a dialysis machine.”
 
According to Hamlet, in 2015, he got the opportunity to push for his “pet project” when DOMLEC decided to assist the hospital. “so there is no way that it was going to be refused when the donation committee made representation to assist the hospital, that I was not going to support it, so it is dear to me, because I saw the need for it, and today I can say that it is through some other organization with which I am associated, that I am able to see this unit being brought to the hospital.”
 
He expressed the hope that provision has been made for space at the hospital to locate the equipment. “We do not want to make this donation and 2 to 3 years later when the hospital is completed, there is no space, or that adequate provision was made for it and it is packed on a side. We would feel at DOMLEC that such a gift this morning, such a gesture, would be in fact a waste of time”.
 
Health Minister, Dr. Kenneth Darroux, said it is “refreshing” to see that DOMLEC is giving back some of the profits, and assured that there will be provision for a dialysis section, at the new National Hospital.