200 healthcare workers across Guyana infected with COVID-19

…GPHC records most cases, but services delivery not affected

The spike of COVID-19 cases in Guyana, attributed to the Omicron variant, has resulted in an outbreak among healthcare workers, 200 of whom have been infected across the country, with majority of these being detected at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC).
This was disclosed by President Dr Irfaan Ali during an emergency press briefing on Wednesday.

According to the Head of State, approximately 50 doctors, 75 nurses and 41 technicians within the public health sector countrywide have recently contracted the virus. However, more than 70 per cent of the infected doctors and about 50 per cent of the infected nurses are from the GPHC.
President Ali pointed out that the city hospital is more significantly affected because its patient load is much greater than the other public health facilities across the country. But despite this, he noted that service delivery at the GPHC has not been affected.
“We have to understand that Georgetown Hospital is more at risk because they have more traffic, more patient load going to Georgetown hospital… Whilst most countries now are moving in the direction of cutting off service delivery from the public healthcare system… We are not heading into that direction because we believe that the system can manage and operate even with the challenge that we have now,” the President explained.
Nevertheless, the Head of State went on to reassure the public that there is no need for panic as a result of this outbreak within the healthcare system, since Government has been able to manage the situation so far.

“I want the population to understand that what we are faced with is what the entire global community is faced with… [But] we still remain in a situation where it’s manageable… all the focus is on managing the healthcare system ensuring that our facilities are there, ensuring that our health personnel are protected to the extent that the healthcare system remains functional,” he outlined.
On this note, President Ali commended the healthcare workers for putting in the hours to ensure service delivery is not affected during this surge in COVID-19 cases.

Operations not affected
Currently, there are two departments – the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OB/GYN) and the Paediatric – at the GPHC which have seen the most infections.
But according to Director of Medical and Professional Services at the GPHC, Dr Fawcett Jeffrey, the operations of these departments have not been affected to the extent that service delivery had to be suspended.
As it relates to the OB-GYN department, which facilitates referrals from around the country, seven of the 32 doctors attached there have tested positive for COVID.
“[OB-GYN doctors] attend to two persons – mother and child – so that’s a very important department… There are lots of doctors and just seven are out of the department now, but we consider it significant because of the role they play in the institution… Many of the doctors in the [Paediatric] Department were affected, but within another five to seven days, most of them would be back out on the job,” Dr Jeffrey noted.
However, the Director of Medical Services explained that in addition to the doctors, some 56 nurses at the GPHC are infected as well. He pointed out that while this situation does not significantly affect service delivery, it does have an impact on staff and some departments.
“When you have nurses who are out of service, it means sometimes nursing care – it’s not affected, but it means that other nurses will have to go the extra mile to do their jobs… Departments will be affected because they have such a large turnover [of patients],” he stated.
Nevertheless, Dr Jeffrey disclosed that contingency plan has already been put in place to curb the spread of the virus at the city hospital. These include the use of specific face masks by healthcare workers as well as heightened screening process and stricter visitation protocols.

Protocols for visitation
According to GPHC’s Director of Medical Services, “Even though we try to say the number of you that go to visit your family can negatively impact [curbing] COVID-19. But we have fights at the gate and difficulties because people think they are being restricted from seeing their family members.”
Protocols in place due to the pandemic stipulate that only one visitor per patient is allow in order to ensure social distancing and avoid the possibility of cross-contamination of the virus.
“But people do not understand those things, and we end up with issues at the gate that sometimes even expose our staff more… because when somebody gets heated…they take off their masks so that their voices could be heard more and the virus also spreads more,” he lamented.
Against this backdrop, Dr Jeffrey is imploring members of the public, especially those who visit the GPHC, to cooperate with the staff and adhere to the COVID-19 protocols in place, that would not just protect hospital staff alone, but them as well. (G8)