By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Covid-19 situation in Trinidad and Tobago continues to improve with hospital occupancy being below 30%.
Principal Medical Officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said positive trends have been noted for the past 34 days with overall occupancy in the parallel healthcare system being 40% and less.
“This has been a consistent trend. This of course is a very welcoming sign and is a positive trend,” she said.
As at 8 am on Wednesday, the national occupancy was at 22% which meant that two out of ten hospital beds were filled, she said.
Dr Abdool-Richards was speaking during the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 update on Wednesday.
She said, “When we look at the actual hospitals in the parallel healthcare system, all hospitals are under 30% occupancy levels… It is promising because it means that only three out of 10 beds at each hospital in context are fully occupied.”
This was further broken down by ward level occupancy – 22%, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) levels – 26% and High Dependency Unit (HDU) – 13%.
Presently, there are 21 out of 80 ICU beds in Trinidad and Tobago occupied
There were also 175 patients in the parallel healthcare system as at Wednesday morning with 159 in hospital and 16 were at step-down facilities, Dr Abdool-Richards said.
She also said there were 15 patients across the 10 Accident and Emergency Departments and for the past three weeks, there have been no patients at the A&E departments who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) levels.
A decline in persons accessing A&E care have also been on a decline for the past two months she added.
Ambulance usage for Covid-19 patients was also at 15%.
Area Hospital Point Fortin changes
Dr Abdool-Richards also announced that the Area Hospital Point Fortin that was being used as a step-down facility will be included in the list of hospitals that care for Covid-10 patients effective from Wednesday.
She said, “The Point Fortin Hospital was rededicated to the people of Point Fortin and has now been included in the traditional healthcare system. The Area Hospital Point Fortin has been upgraded to now treat moderately and severely ill patients. Patients in the Area Hospital Point Fortin are now being treated with oxygen and for more serious cases of Covid-19.”
Step-down facilities still remained available throughout the various hospitals, Dr Abdool-Richards reminded.
