The operating theatres at the Savanna-la-Mar General Hospital in Westmoreland have been closed by the Western Regional Health Authority to facilitate urgent repairs to the air conditioning system.

Regional Director, Dr Ken-Garfield Douglas, says arrangements have been made with a private medical centre in Savanna-la-Mar to carry out emergency surgeries in the interim.

Douglas says patients requiring surgery will be transferred to the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay.

He says an arrangement has been made for the provision of ambulances to ensure transfers are done in a controlled manner.

The Regional Director says surgical operations will resume at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital as soon as the repairs to the air conditioning system are completed.