Gov. forced to relocate mobile COVID-19 hospital to Ocean View facility due to lack of staff

Jan 22, 2021 News

Arrival of the Covid-19 field hospital donated by Qatar at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Kaieteur News – The government has been forced to relocate the mobile COVID-19 hospital that was donated by the Government of Qatar on Tuesday due to the lack of staff at the initially proposed site, the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
This was announced by the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony in yesterday’s COVID-19 update where he revealed that the field hospital will now be set up in the compound of the Liliendaal Infectious Disease Hospital better known as the Ocean View COVID-19 Hospital, East Coast Demerara.
According to Minister Anthony, the initial site for its placement was the West Demerara Regional Hospital in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) but it was found that there is an inadequate number of doctors and nurses there to efficiently run the hospital.
“Upon closer analysis of the amount of personnel that we have there to run the facility, it would be a challenge, both in terms of nursing personnel and in terms of doctors. So what we have decided, because we already have a lot of capacity in terms of personnel at Ocean View, that we think it might be more appropriate to set it up in the compound of the Ocean View facility,” Dr. Anthony said during the update.
The Health Minister believes that the field hospital will bolster the Ocean View Hospital’s COVID-19 response as it adds to what is already available at the facility. The Ocean View Hospital currently has a maternity ward, a 25 bed Intensive Care Unit and a normal unit for transitioning (people who have symptoms but are awaiting their test results) and mild-case patients.
The field hospital comprises of 60 beds, 60 mattresses, 60 pillows, 60 blankets, 12 air-conditioners, eight carpets, one generator, 20 respirators, 20,000 various types of small and large medical equipment and one diesel tank.
“We would be able to manage patients both critical and non-critical. 20 of the 60 beds would be ICU beds, it would have monitors and ventilators so that we would be able to manage more severe critical form of COVID-19,” Anthony further disclosed.
It was stated that the hospital will be set up by local technical personnel, who will receive guidance and instruction on how to properly set up the hospital from the experts from Qatar.
The field hospital arrived on Tuesday at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and it was a commitment made by the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, during an engagement with President Irfaan Ali last October.

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