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Patients quarantining at Diamond to remain as it closes for upgrade
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony recently announced that the Diamond Diagnostic Centre will be closing to facilitate its transformation into a SMART hospital, which will result in a halting of services from September 1 to October 16.
The Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
However, all COVID-19 patients in the quarantine facility will remain there.
The Diamond Diagnostic Centre serves as the main provider of medical services on the East Bank of Demerara and was listed as one of the main quarantine facilities.
Nevertheless, it was stated that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) will handle all of the facility’s emergencies.
The GPHC has been facing issues in terms of accommodating patients.
An official assured that the patients being transferred will not be a burden. The GHPC has also begun providing more space in the wards to cater for more patients and they have also started to transfer patients to the infectious facilities that have been constructed at the former Ocean View Hotel, Liliendaal.
The transformation of the facility into a SMART hospital is a part of a UK-funded project set to provide upgraded and environmentally friendly services to five hospitals- the Leonora Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Paramakatoi Health Centre, the Lethem Regional Hospital, the Mabaruma Regional Hospital, and the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
SMART hospitals are said to be safer, greener and environmentally friendly facilities.
The upgrade was supposed to occur since January 2019 and would have concluded by May/June of this year, but Kaieteur News understands that the upgrade will be done in the next three months.
The project saw a total US$4.175M allocation where US$950,000 was allocated to the Leonora Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, US$910,000 at Lethem Regional Hospital, US$837,000 at Mabaruma Regional Hospital, US$515,000 at Paramakatoi Health Centre and US$920,000 at Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
Additionally, in January 2019, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the United Kingdom (UK) and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO unveiled a billboard for the Smart Healthcare Facilities Project which aimed to spread more awareness.
In attendance at the unveiling were British High Commissioner Greg Quinn, former Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence, PAHO/WHO Country Representative, Dr. Williams Adu-Krow, and the Regional Health Officer (RHO) of Region Four, Dr. Quincy Jones.
Apart from making the facilities more environmentally friendly, the project also aims to reduce deaths at facilities, morbidity, and economic losses a country can suffer as a result of natural disasters.
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