$41M COVID-19 unit commissioned in Region Six

Feb 14, 2022 News

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony and other regional officials at the commissioning of the unit.

Kaieteur News – The health authorities in East Berbice, Corentyne on Saturday commissioned its first infectious unit to treat COVID-19 patients to the tune of $41 M in the compound of the New Amsterdam Hospital.
The unit, which was built by contrator Navin Deokissoon of Navin and Sons Construction Company will house COVID-19 patients instead of them having to be transferred to Georgetown.
Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony who commissioned the multimillion dollar unit, stated that when the pandemic hit, Guyana did not have capacity to deal with hospitalisations for patients. As a consequence, a section of the Georgetown Public Hospital had to be secluded to be used for this purpose.
He stated that with just seven ventilators available at that time, “some patients came in and if they needed ventilatory support they were unable to get that support.” He added with the enhancements made to date, that has changed. Dr. Anthony stated that for the year 2020, 38,000 tests were done in total and for 2022 (January- February) 74,000 tests were done.
He mentioned that the National Public Health Laboratory does 3,000 PCR tests a day and as it relates to the accommodation of those being hospitalised, they have transitioned from having just seven beds to 375 beds countrywide.
With the unit now in place at the New Amsterdam Hospital, an additional 15 beds will be added.
Shedding light on the capacity at the Ocean View Infectious Disease Hospital, Anthony said that there are currently 195 beds there- each equipped with an oxygen unit. Added to that, the hospital he said has a total of 52 ventilators and they have distributed ventilators, oxygen concentrators and antigen capabilities and more to regional hospitals.
Adding to what the Minister said, Regional Chairman, David Armogan noted that when the spread of the virus stretched across to Region Six, it was an uphill task to find accommodation for COVID-19 patients.

The new COVID-19 unit at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

At that time, the region used the Rose Hall Estate compound temporarily. However, that location had its fair share of issues since it was left unmanaged following the closure of the estate. He was however thankful to GuySuCo for allowing the region to use the space at a time when the cases were rising.
“So today we recognise that there is a need for the infectious unit, a permanent infectious unit, where our patients can be comfortable and the team left in charge of looking after these patients are also comfortable”, Armogan said.
Adding to that, Chief Executive Officer of the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital, with oversight for the Skeldon Public Hospital, Dr. Bob Ramnauth, noted that when he was assigned to the region five months ago, the location where the unit is now in place was a “swampy area”. However there was a need for the infectious unit and so an assessment of the location was done with the REO, Narindra Persaud, and the Regional Vice Chairman, Zamal Hussain, and it was decided it will be done.
“Once the need was recognised, the resources were then gathered and pooled and the will to get it done was there”, Dr. Ramnauth said. He mentioned that the cost of travel to visit relatives who were hospitalised out of the region was taken into consideration when the idea came about.
With the unit now in place, he urged those who will be managing the unit, to keep it maintained and if there are even minor issues, their superiors should be made aware so that those issues can be fixed and resolved immediately. The design of the building was conceptualised by Regional Engineer Morvin Budhan, the REO, Narindra Persaud, said. Also present was the RHO, Dr. Vishalya, and the Regional Vice Chairman, Zamal Hussain.