Refurbished flood-prone COVID-19 treatment facility to be ready next week

After months of renovation on the flood-prone Ocean View Hotel to transform it into a specialised COVID-19 treatment facility, it is set to be ready on July 13.
This was according to Logistics Officer attached to the National COVID-19 Task Force, Colonel (Ret’d) Nazrul Hussein, who noted during a recent engagement that the $1 billion project is about 95 per cent completed. While the media has not been granted a tour of the facility, the official said that the entire project is divided into eight lots, which focuses mainly on retrofitting the different wings along with the installation of necessary facilities and equipment for when the building becomes operational. The budget of each wing is pegged at a different price with Lot One costing $381,825,605; Lot Two costing $388,402,665; Lot Three at $49,201,944; Lot Four at $54,761,525, Lot Five costing $64,728,615; Lot Six appraised at $4,100,000; Lot Seven at $22,074,712 and Lot Eight, 86,232,939.
The caretaker coalition would have expended about $1 billion to transform the facility into a specialised sanitorium for those suffering from the novel virus. Presently, patients are seeking accommodations at various makeshift units as cases continue to rise.
Last month, Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud indicated that the facility is designed to house three categories of persons. There is also space for the operating room, kitchen, laundry, waste management, holding area for gases and other pharmaceuticals.
“The plan is to handle at least three categories of persons – those who are infected and are suffering from the signs and symptoms of the disease; those who are infected but remain asymptomatic and those who are in quarantine and waiting for their results.”

Being the prime building for coronavirus-related cases, he indicated that they were working to comply with all standards to protect both patients and medical personnel on duty. As such, a few modifications were initially requested in keeping with this mindset.
The CMO had pointed out that after Guyana is free from the disease, they will use the centre to treat other respiratory viruses such as tuberculosis and influenza among others.
“COVID-19 is a respiratory disease at this point in time and along with COVID-19, there are several respiratory infections. We call them severe acute respiratory illnesses. Those come seasonally like with flu and other kinds of challenges. So, I guess there will always be a role for a facility like this, even if we were to get out of this pandemic shortly.”
Shortly after works began on the facility — devoid of a formal announcement by Government, the then Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, had told reporters that financial arrangements were still being worked out, and that the contractors had begun working without a formally signed contract.
The orders by Government, taking over the facility and turning it into a hospice, did not indicate any further details on the financial arrangements or a sale price. The Ocean View International Hotel was owned by coalition financier Jacob Rambarran, while works ongoing on the site are being undertaken by another known People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) supporter.
The order made by Minister of State Dawn Hastings for the State to take ownership of the property was also inked on the same day as the one done by caretaker Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence to turn the acquired property into a sanitorium.