Granger claims ignorance of cost to convert hotel to COVID-19 hospital

…as flood-prone facility commissioned

The flood-prone Ocean View International Hotel, which was rehabilitated to serve as an Infectious Diseases Hospital, was commissioned on Thursday to facilitate the immediate need to treat COVID-19 patients.

However, costs attached to renovation and outfitting of the building remain unknown, even upon completion of the project. This is according to caretaker President David Granger, who told the media at the commissioning ceremony that the expenditure was worked out between subject Public Health and Finance ministers.
“This used to be a hotel. The person who built the hotel was heavily indebted to the banks, and my understanding is that it is in receivership. In other terms, we don’t have a bottom line, and the Minister of Public Health and the Minister of Finance are quite aware of the level of expenditure, and Cabinet is convinced that the expenditure is justified,” the caretaker Head of State said when questioned about the costs attached to the facility.
Initial numbers show that approximately $1B was spent to renovate the facility. Soon after the announcement was made, Auditor General Deodat Sharma had signalled an intention to conduct a special audit to determine whether Government had gone through appropriate channels to get the project on stream.
The Auditor General has said that, in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the exceptional political circumstances that obtain, separate accounts for expenditures incurred are expected to be kept.
He recalled previous instances wherein the Public Health Ministry had used the Ocean View International Hotel to store drugs, and irregularities were unearthed after audits.
Located at Liliendaal, on the East Coast of Demerara, the facility is expected to serve as the primary facility to treat COVID-19 patients and fill the existing health challenges. It would also be used in the later stages to handle other infectious diseases.

Too weak to handle COVID-19
At the commissioning ceremony on Thursday, caretaker Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence admitted that Guyana’s healthcare system was too weak to handle cases of the novel coronavirus, even though preparations had begun before the detection of Patient Zero on March 11.
“To contextualise Guyana’s predicament, we lack capacity for many upgrades, with only 27 hospitals (and) one national referral hospital – the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation – to cater for all services; and only one ICU (Intensive Care Unit) available for patients requiring critical care,” Lawrence stated.
Guyana is witnessing a spike in cases of COVID-19, but the facility is still not ready to admit patients. This publication understands that the Public Health Ministry is now tasked with transferring the medical equipment from other smaller facilities which were created to treat positive cases.
Lawrence claimed that the hospital is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, but the state of Antigua and Barbuda already has an Infectious Diseases Hospital.

Quick spread
Sharing his remarks, PAHO Country Representative Dr William Adu-Krow said health systems have been significantly affected, even with a small number of cases recorded in some countries.
Dr Adu-Krow pointed out, “In today’s society, infectious diseases can spread quickly across the world, fuelled by the rapidity with which we travel within countries, across borders, and across continents. Historical accounts of pandemics and contemporary repulse of infectious diseases clearly illustrate that, in the past, many of the diseases have been met without warning, resulting in the world being unprepared to deal with the devastating effects.
“This experience in managing this pandemic has illustrated that the health system capacity can be severely stressed, given by relatively mild epidemic and pandemic scenarios.”
The new COVID facility is equipped with an isolation area, quarantine area, intensive care, surveillance department, and administrative offices. (G12)