First batch of patients shifted to COVID-19 hospital in Guyana

GUYANA’S capacity to isolate and quarantine novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients has been boosted as the Health Ministry activated the $1.6 billion infectious diseases hospital by transferring patients from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to the new facility.
The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that six COVID-19 patients from GPHC’s Maternity Unit were transferred to the new facility, which is located at the site of the former Ocean View Hotel.

A critical element in the fight against COVID-19 has been isolation and quarantining facilities, and before the activation of the new facility, GPHC and the Diamond Hospital have been bearing the brunt, in this regard.

While only six patients have been transferred to the infectious diseases hospital so far, work is ongoing to get the facility ready to house more patients. The facility is being manned by staff of the GPHC.

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, had told this publication that the facility, which was built under the former APNU+AFC administration, was just a “shell”, so a lot of adjustments had to be made before patients could be housed there.
Although work is still ongoing to get the facility fully-equipped, the minister said the focus will be on transferring patients who show mild signs of the disease. Most patients are expected to be transferred from GPHC’s “transition ward”- the ward housing patients who show only the mild symptoms of COVID-19.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, dry cough, and tiredness. Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some patients include aches and pains, nasal congestion, headache, conjunctivitis, sore throat, diarrhea, loss of taste or smell or a rash on skin or discoloration of fingers or toes.

These symptoms, WHO said, are usually mild and progress gradually. Some people become infected but only have very mild symptoms.
And, although 80 per cent of the persons who contract COVID-19 recover from the disease without needing hospital treatment, around one in every five person who gets this disease becomes seriously ill and develop difficulty breathing.

HIGHER RISK
Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart and lung problems, diabetes, or cancer, are at higher risk of developing serious illness.  However, anyone can contract COVID-19 and become seriously ill.
While the new infectious diseases hospital only caters for mild patients right now, Minister Anthony had said there are plans to establish an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) there to treat with patients who are seriously ill.

Dr. Anthony foresees an ICU facility being established at the new hospital within a month’s time, given the magnitude of work to be done.
It was reported that the hospital, which was commissioned by the former APNU+AFC administration, has glaring inefficiencies, but Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo, had said taxpayers’ money cannot be wasted.

The former government had said the new facility, which was established at the site of the former Ocean View Hotel, will serve as the first all-inclusive infectious diseases facility, and would eventually remove the constraints from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the regional and district hospitals.

It was reported that the facility has a capacity for 190 beds and also caters for laboratories, a pharmacy, an ICU, an operating theatre and even a mortuary. A section of the facility was also set to house the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC), a surveillance centre, a research centre and administrative offices.

MAJOR INEFFICIENCIES
A closer examination of the facility by the new People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government revealed major inefficiencies in not just the physical aspect of the project, but also the deal between the former government and the owner of the former hotel, Jacob Rambarran.
Government has since been working to rectify those issues, but it is certain that the facility will not be “wasted”.

The idea to establish a special COVID-19 facility was put to government by the Pan American Health Organisation / World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) after a new study found that Guyana could have as many as 20,000 COVID-19 cases in a month.

The Ministry of Health, using the PAHO/WHO method, had initially projected 1,400 cases, but a recent study done by PAHO/WHO found that, with every case, another 2.5 persons will be affected within five days, if there is no partial lockdown, and if persons do not exercise effective social distancing.
“That 2.5, if I infect you, you infect 2.5 others and they infect another 2.5. Within a month we will get over 20,000; it’s a simple model but it makes a lot of sense,” said PAHO/WHO Resident Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, in a previous News Room report.
And should this happen, Dr. Adu-Krow said five per cent or 1,000 of those infected would need intensive care, and Guyana simply does not have the capacity for this.

Story via Guyana Chronicle

Source: CARICOM TODAY