Works on COVID-19 hospital progressing

By Tamica Garnett

CONSTRUCTION of the country’s first COVID-19 hospital is moving a pace. Works began last Monday on the former Ocean View Hotel, located on the Rupert Craig Highway, Liliendaal. The building is being converted to a COVID-19 facility for the incubation, isolation, quarantine and medical attention for persons diagnosed with, or suspected to have the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The works have an estimated timeline of approximately two months. However, some of the contractors working on the facility have noted that they have been facing constraints in sourcing materials and incorporating social distancing and necessary measures even as they go about refurbishing the building.

Nonetheless they are striving to meet the target timeline.
“To fulfill these large orders in a short space of time, a lot of the suppliers have challenges, these are some of the constraints we are facing in terms of getting the materials and supplies. It will take some time but we’re working to see if we can make that deadline, and finish in a month and a half or so,” Site Supervisor Wayne Newton explained.
Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) Senior Engineer, Naresh Mangar, explained that works on the building are currently being executed by two contractors – International Import and Supplies and Ivor Allen Construction.

“The two main contractors on the project right now they’re responsible for remodeling of the internal three floors. A section of the facility has three storeys. The three-storey section is the medical section which will include the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] on the ground floor and the two floors above will be the HDU [High Dependency Unit]. The L-shaped section of the building will be for isolation and quarantine,” Mangar explained.

Mangar noted that the capacity of the facility is still being assessed, as the floor plan arrangement is still being worked out. However, according to some medical officials, the facility is expected to accommodate between 150 – 300 patients. Overall costs for the facility are also still being finalised, as the facility will also have to be outfitted once completed.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Boyle explained that when completed the facility is expected to have all the necessary basic amenities of a hospital,l including a pharmacy, laboratory and x-ray departments.

“The fact is we want to make the place comfortable for persons who are sick, moderate and mildly sick and possible ICU and HDU patients. We are going to outfit the place to provide those different levels of care for them to be triage, and they will be rooms for people who are convalescing,” Boyle explained.

The facility is one among a number that is listed for the housing of COVID-19 related patients, as government strives towards having the capacity to house at least 1,000 patients.

The idea to establish such a facility was put to the government by the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) after a new study found that Guyana could have as many as 20,000 COVID-19 cases in a month.
PAHO/WHO Resident Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, projected that should those numbers be realised five per cent or 1000 of those infected would need intensive care, and Guyana simply does not have the capacity for this.

Hence, the decision to transform the East Coast hotel facility into a “COVID-19 hospital” was made by the government, through the National COVID-19 Task Force, which is being chaired by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

According to Ministry of Public Health statistics, as at last Saturday, Guyana had recorded a total 45 cases of the virus, since the first case was registered on March 11. This number is inclusive of six deaths, and eight patients who have since recovered and tested negative for the virus.

Dr. Boyle said it was at the ending of March that a team from the Ministry toured the building to assess the conditions and possible works needed. A team from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) would have also visited the building to provide technical support.

In addition to ‘Ocean View’, it had been noted that the government is also considering the possibility of converting the former Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) building on High Street into a similar COVID-19 facility.

In addition to facilities being considered, national quarantine and isolation facilities have already been established at the West Demerara Regional Hospital; the (East Bank Demerara) Diamond Diagnostic Centre; the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC); the (Timehri) Madewini Youth Centre; the Cliff Anderson Sports Centre and the National Gymnasium.

These facilities, collectively, will be able to accommodate one thousand persons.