Ottawa Public Health will be seeking federal approval to operate its supervised injection site in the Byward Market long-term.
The City's Board of Health approved a recommendation to seek that approval Monday evening.
The site at 179 Clarence Street was approved for 120 days or until the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre's injection site is up and running.
But it remains unknown when the Sandy Hill site will be ready.
Andrew Hendriks, Director of Health Protection at OPH, told the Board there have been more than 550 visits to the Clarence Street site since it opened a month ago. The site sees between 20 and 30 visits per day.
Hendriks says renovations at the Sandy Hill CHC have not yet started, and he's concerned the current Health Canada exemption for the site on Clarence Street may expire before the next Board of Health meeting in January.
“I want to assure you that this is an administrative technicality to ensure that OPH is able to continue to provide its services under the existing model,” Hendriks told the Board, “in order to not jeopardize a break in services for current clients.”
He adds OPH will bring a new report to the Board in January, which will include discussions about more permanent solutions for supervised injection services, based on data collected from the Clarence Street site.