History of the Roxborough Hyperbaric Facility

Background: The Roxborough Hyperbaric Facility (RHF) was established in 1999 in response to the diving industry’s need for a recompression chamber to treat persons suffering from “the bends” (decompression sickness) on the island of Tobago.  The RHF was managed by private contractual managers until the handing over to the Department of Marine Resources and Fisheries, Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs and the Environment in the Tobago House of Assembly (Tobago’s governing body) in October 2003. 

The chamber at the facility is used to treat mainly decompression illness/ sickness and indeed more than 90% of the cases have been this type of ailment; however, in the rare case, treatment for other approved ailments such as gas gangrene have been performed.