The Somerset West Community Health Centre has received the green light to open a supervised injection site.
The health centre on Eccles Street in Chinatown announced this morning it has been granted an exemption from Health Canada to open a facility.
It has also received program funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to operate the supervised injection site.
In a statement, executive director Naini Cloutier says "a supervised injection service is essential, because members of our community are dying. They are our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters."
There is no timeline for when the supervised injection site will open at the Somerset West Community Health Centre. The centre is still waiting for infrastructure funding needed to make renovations to the facility.
This is the third supervised injection site approved for Ottawa. The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre received approval to open a supervised injection site in July. The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre is currently operating an interim site at the Ottawa Public Health sexual health clinic on Clarence Street while it finishes renovations to its facility in Sandy Hill.
Ottawa Inner City Health received its licence for a supervised injection site on November 6. That facility is located in a trailer at the Shepherds of Good Hope in Lowertown.
