Renovated flood-prone Ocean View Hotel to be ready soon

COVID-19 hospital

The flood-prone Ocean View Hotel, which is under renovation works to function as a COVID-19 hospice care facility, will soon be completed after remaining works are done.

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.
After a tour of the facility on Monday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud indicated, “a facility like this will take some time but hopefully it will be ready for operation very shortly.”
According to senior health officials, the facility is designed to house three categories of persons. There is also space for an 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 are 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 facility is a modified facility so we’re looking to try to comply with all of the most up-to-date standards with regards to control of infectious disease. We are working closely with Ministry’s standards department but also with the engineers to ensure that everything in this facility will meet those standards,” Dr Persaud shared.
He added, “The progress of the work has been commendable, to say the least. They’ve transformed the facility from where it was to where it is now. I think the quality of the work from the initial inspection seems to be up to date. We had some suggestions about a few modifications. Like with every medical facility, we will have to cater for special services.”
The CMO also 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 the then Minister of State Dawn Hastings for the State to take ownership of the property was also inked on the same day as the one inked by Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence to turn the acquired property into a sanitorium, with both directives being published in the Official Gazette, giving it immediate legal effect.