…Govt pushing for fully equipped facility by month-end
With $790 million allocated by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government to operationalise the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (COVID-19 hospital), located at Liliendaal, the Government hopes to get the facility fully equipped by this month-end.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, located at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown
This is according to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, during an interview with this publication after his budget presentation. He noted that while the hospital is being used for mild cases, they hope to begin full operations soon after Budget 2020 is passed.
“We have started using it for mild, non-critical cases, with the investment that needs to be made the sooner the better. Because the Georgetown Hospital is overwhelmed,” Edghill explained. “So possibly the end of this month (or) in October, we hope to see that moving,” Edghill said.
In his budget speech on Wednesday last, Edghill had said that when the Government took office, the hospital at Liliendaal was nothing more than a beautifully painted shell that lacked basic facilities. This is even after the former Government spent $1.6 billion to upgrade the flood-prone former hotel.
“A series of problems exist at the facility, including some as basic as sewerage, water supply and electricity. We are trying to have the deficiencies corrected so that construction could be quickly concluded, to an appropriate standard, whilst equipping the facility. Our intention is to staff and commission the facility by the end of the month.”
He, however, added that given the poor planning by the former APNU/AFC Government that went into the conceptualisation of this facility, the PPP/C Government is now forced to budget a further $790 million in addition to the $1.6 billion already sunk, to operationalise the infectious disease hospital.
Earlier this month, the Government first started utilising the billion-dollar hospital, with the first batch of COVID-19 patients shifting there on September 1. In an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony had disclosed that six patients from the maternity section of the GPHC were transferred to the new health facility on Tuesday last.
The facility possesses an isolation unit and a section to house patients awaiting their COVID-19 test results. When he toured and inspected the facility before the transfer of the patients, Anthony had revealed that the facility had 197 beds, and will grant 50 per cent usage during Phase One.
This, he had pointed out, will remove the burden from GPHC, thus allowing them to cater for more severe cases and non-COVID-19 patients. During his inspection, Minister Anthony had also identified electricity, water availability, and proper sewage disposal as hurdles that have delayed the transfer of patients to the new facility, which was formerly the Ocean View International Hotel.
Nevertheless, the Health Ministry has been working with the Public Works and Housing and Water Ministries to fix issues that have posed challenges to the facility becoming properly and fully equipped to accommodate COVID-19 patients. Doctors have already been transferred to work at this health facility.
While there is a need for more space to forestall local hospitals becoming overwhelmed, the selection by the previous Government of the former Ocean View International Hotel has raised eyebrows.
Persons have questioned the choice of the hotel, due to its susceptibility to the elements. The hotel has previously been flooded by high tides and overtopping, since it is in close proximity to the seawall. (G3)
