Te Marae Ora Ministry of Health and the Cook Islands Investment Corporation (CIIC) will be working closely to determine the timeline for health services to resume at the Tupapa Primary Care and Outpatient Clinic.

Dental and primary health care services were temporarily relocated due to asbestos removal at the building which started in May this year.

CIIC confirmed that scaffolding and shrink wrap removal was safely and successfully completed two weeks ago.

“This complete encapsulation provided additional safety measures to mitigate the risk of asbestos for those involved with the project and also the surrounding neighbours and properties,” a CIIC spokesperson said.

Since then, interior works are in final stages with remedial works undertaken in all areas such as dental, pharmacy and primary health.

Last week, air conditioning installation was completed

The spokesperson said: “With the TMO team, planning for ICT upgrades and installation is underway, CIIC is working closely now with TMO on specific timelines for health services to reconvene from Tupapa.”

The $400,000 project began in May and is expected to be completed this month.