State of the Art Cancer Centre at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 billion including equipment will be
completed in May 2020. Moreover, a New Eye Hospital, a New Flacq Teaching Hospital, a New
Renal Transplant Unit at J. Nehru Hospital unit are in the pipeline. Currently, land has already
been earmarked for the projects and the designs/tender documents are being finalised.
180. Mauritius provides universal access to Primary Health Care (PHC) services to all its citizens
free of user cost. As the frontline entry point to the national health system, PHC Institutions act as
“gatekeepers” for patients’ access to hospitals. The PHC system comprises of a network of 21
Area Health Centres (AHCs), 130 Community Health Centres (CHCs), 5 Medi-Clinics (MC), 2
Community Hospitals (CH) and other satellite PHC institutions to provide health promotion, health
education, family planning, immunisation, diagnostic, treatment and referral services. 5.4 million
attendances were recorded at the 151 primary health care institutions for the treatment of common
diseases and minor injuries in 2018. Some 293,600 attendances were recorded at dental clinics.
181. Government introduced the Use of Pesticides Act in 2018. The Act provides for the proper
and safe use of pesticides and the setting up of a Pesticides Regulatory Office which regulates,
control and monitor the use of pesticides in or on any agricultural produce, develops strategies for
the sound use and management of pesticides and for risk reduction associated with the use and
disposal of empty pesticide containers, keeps relevant information on pesticides, devises a
Pesticides Code of Practice and advises the Minister on any matter related to the use of pesticides.
An island-wide sensitisation campaign to create awareness on the sound and prudent use of
pesticides in agriculture has also been organised in 2018.
182. The Human Tissue (Removal, Preservation And Transplant) Act was enacted in 2018 and
published in the Gazette on 2 June 2018, and save for section 16 regarding the Board, the other
provisions have yet to come into force. The new and revised legislation provides a better legal
framework for the removal, preservation and transplant of human tissue, other than blood, under
appropriate medical supervision. The new legislation, inter alia,
a) provides that–
i.
no person shall donate any tissue, whether belonging to himself or to any
other person, unless he obtains the approval of the Tissue Donation,
Removal and Transplant Board;
ii. no person, other than an authorised specialist, shall remove any tissue, or
cause or permit any tissue to be removed from, the body of a person unless
conditions are satisfied;
iii. no person, other than an authorised specialist, shall perform a transplant;
b) removes the current restriction applicable in the case of donation of tissue by living
or deceased persons for the purpose of a transplant to the body of any other person;
and
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