 The St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd. Lucilek continues to fulfill its corporate responsibility, particularly as the island faces the impact of COVID-19. A donation by Lucilek has vastly enhanced the ability of the St. Jude Hospital to provide oxygen to patients. More from GIS's Ross Daniel. St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd. Lucilek has donated nearly $76,000 to the St. Jude Hospital in support of the hospital's efforts to power its oxygen-generating plant. Lucilek is covering the cost of the electricity infrastructure to extend the power supply to the plant. The St. Jude Hospital currently receives its oxygen supply through an external agency. That avenue is fraught with issues that include regularity and cost. St. Jude Hospital CEO Diane Henry Ernest says the hospital invested in the plant as part of its overall strategy to fight COVID-19. When the pandemic started, we realized that most probably oxygen might, we might have some issues with oxygen. So we decided to find a way to generate our own oxygen. So this is why we ventured in buying a plant. So we will not have a need for oxygen because we, at St. Jude Hospital right now, what we do is buy oxygen. If we are generating our own, we will not have to wait for supply. We'll always have a continuous supply. COVID clients, they are dependent on oxygen and at a high concentration again. So us having our own plant, I don't think we'll have the need to import or even buy from anybody else. We are so grateful that Lucilek came to our help. A contribution of $76,000 definitely will go a long way for St. Jude Hospital. COVID has actually put a dent in our pocket, our cash flow is reduced. It is reduced tremendously. So Lucilek coming on board and helping us with that gift, with that donation, it's definitely going to give us the opportunity to have continuous oxygen for our clients. So I must say it's a great gift. It's a gift that will allow us to share with all the persons like the other hospitals in St. Lucia because of the availability of oxygen that it will allow us to have. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belma George agrees that a reliable and cost effective oxygen supply is of critical importance in the national fight against COVID-19 and other respiratory ailments. They've also had discussions with the ministry to provide support of oxygen to our other public health facilities in the south. So it will not only support the patient care in the south at the hospital, but also assist us with our community respiratory clinics and also our regular clinics. The CMO describes the size and impact of the Lucilek donation as significant. She says establishing the oxygen plant at St. Jude will ensure and support patient care in the south of the island. With COVID-19, it has become a lot worse. The need for oxygen on island. So it is also reassuring for us having that capacity in the south of the island as well. It would also provide support wherever else is needed for care with oxygen. Now, even without COVID, we have increasing numbers of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a result of smoking. So we get a lot of those admissions and persons who may suffer heart attacks or strokes because of the burden of chronic disease that we see here on island. So the regular sustainable supply of oxygen is extremely important for our health facilities, both the hospital and the others within the communities and also for our asthmatics as well. Lucilek Managing Director, Trevor Luisi, says the necessity of the St. Jude Hospital request is what spurred the company to act. St. Jude Hospital is also partnering with Invest St. Lucia on the establishment of its oxygen generating plant. The facility is located at the Viewfort Free Zone. From the Government Information Service, Ross Daniel reporting.