MORE Covid-19 patients are admitted than discharged in the parallel healthcare system.
Chief Medical Officer Roshan Parasram, Principal Medical Officer, Institutions, Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards and epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds all spoke on Monday at a press conference held by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.
The breakdown of hospital bed capacity:
| Hospital | Ward Level | Intensive Care Unit | High Dependency Unit | Total Capacity |
| Caura | 98 | 2 | 0 | 100 |
| Couva Medical and Multi-Training facility | 150 | 18 | 38 | 206 |
| Augustus Long Hospital | 38 | 6 | 4 | 48 |
| Arima General Hospital | 67 ward sites | 2 | 3 | 72 |
Dr Parasram said ten spaces were designated at St Ann’s hospital.
He said the Scarborough General Hospital held spaces for 106 patients with two ICU and five HDU beds.
The CMO said the total number of beds within the parallel healthcare system was 542 – 462 at ward level, 30 in the ICU and 50 in HDU.
He said there was a ventilator capacity of 90 with 30 currently in use.
Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said statistics from March 1 to May 2 show a 14% admittance of Covid positive patients to hospitals daily.
She said 6.2% of every one hundred Covid positive patient were leaving while 13.6% were admitted.
Dr Abdool-Richards said Covid-19 patients were unwell and may require oxygen, ICU care, hemodialysis or treatment in complications.
She said the length of time that a positive Covid-19 patient was in the hospital may vary anywhere between three to five to 21 days.
Dr Abdool-Richards said, “It’s not a simple turn around in terms of time.”
She said as of Monday morning there were 260 positive Covid-19 patients in hospital putting the parallel healthcare system at 48% capacity.
Dr Abdool-Richards said, “Based on simple math and arithmetic on the number of beds remaining; likewise, the number of persons in the hospitals increasing; we can see that within ten days, the parallel healthcare system will become overwhelmed if we continue at this rate.” She said it could take between seven to ten days.
She said a bed was more than just a physical space but also entailed nurses, physicians, personal protective equipment, ventilators, consumables and ambulance to support that patient.
She said there was an alarming increase in occupancy within the 24-hour period:
- Augustus Long Hospital accepted 28 confirmed Covid-19 positive cases; and
- The Arima General Hospital added ten cases who were also hemodialysis patients.
