The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Health has made arrangements for follow-up appointments for Marathon residents who received health assessments at the Elizabeth Estates Clinic following the 2012 Rubis fuel leak.

The appointments, according to a statement sent by health officials over the weekend, apply to persons who were assessed between May 16 and June 14, 2015.

The Department of Public Health is expected to directly contact individuals to provide a date and time for the scheduled review.

Persons who were seen for assessment on May 16 and 17 will be accommodated for follow-ups during the week of July 13, 2015. Those who visited the clinic on May 23 and 24 will be scheduled for the week beginning Monday July 20, 2015. The remaining persons who were assessed on June 13 and 14 will be scheduled beginning Monday, July 27, 2015.

Ministry of Health officials said residents who live in the immediate vicinity of the Rubis station where the leak took place and were not able to benefit from the initial health assessments can contact the Elizabeth Estates Clinic’s hotline at 324-2926 to schedule an appointment between the hours of 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

The 24,000 gallon underground gasoline leak at Rubis’ Robinson and Old Trail Road service station was discovered in November 2012, and an independent report prepared by Black and Veatch International last year found that Marathon residents were “possibly exposed to harmful chemicals,” including cancer-causing benzene.

That report, however, never confirmed to what extent residents might have been exposed to long-term health effects.

Station owner Rubis (Bahamas), Minister of Environment Kenred Dorsett and Marathon MP Jerome Fitzgerald have previously maintained that the 2012 spill’s impact was contained to only five households, and that remediation had brought contamination within acceptable safety levels.

Last Monday, Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez presented preliminary assessments carried out by independent toxicology expert, Dr Rik van de Weerdt. He was brought in by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to assist the government with the aftermath of the fuel leak.

Dr van de Weerdt explained that preliminary findings from the health risk assessments carried out on 223 persons in or around the Marathon area concluded that at this time no long-term health effects were detected, despite indicators that pointed to exposure to substances related to the leak, such as odour and discolouration of well water. While the results were encouraging, he said it was important to establish a complete picture of the situation, both in completing the health risk assessment and in reassuring concerned citizens.

However, Marathon residents and activists have rejected the findings.

Justice for Marathon spokesperson Latoya Hanna last Tuesday said the government’s announcement angered residents, some of whom have been unable to get testing for immobile family members and have yet to receive their own results.

She said the declaration that residents were never exposed to dangerous levels of contaminants was concerning given that at least one family was asked to do further testing – at their own expense.