By Chantalé Fletcher
ALTHOUGH two spaces remain in the Intensive Care Unit at the Scarborough General Hospital for Covid-19 patients, there are three additional isolation rooms at the Accident and Emergency Department to help the situation.
This according to acting Medical Chief of Staff of the Scarborough General Hospital Dr Victor Wheeler who spoke at the of Health, Wellness and Family Development virtual presser on Tuesday.
“At the A&E, we can provide additional care of patients who need an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed,” he said.
Dr Wheeler said, “The upgrade at the Tobago Rehabilitation and Empowerment Centre (TREC) at Fort King to create six more ICU beds, infrastructural works should be completed within another week.
“We already have some of the equipment coming in and we expect most if not all of the equipment to be in placed by the middle of November. Also, we identified some staff to operate the facility as we are actively working on expanding the capacity for ICU care.”
He cautioned Tobagonians to get vaccinated as it was the only way to reduce hospital and ICU care.
Dr Wheeler said, “Trinidad with all its hospitals and all its Covid-19 treatment facilities and much more ICU beds than Tobago, they were close to maximum capacity. However, if we in Tobago don’t vaccinate, then we will never be able to provide all the ICU beds if the population does not get vaccinated, as the majority of person in hospitals were unvaccinated.”
Meanwhile, Tobago Health Secretary, Tracy Davidson-Celestine said that since the return of forms four to six on Monday, there have been no significant complaints.
“Based on all the reports, it appears that the system is working very well,” she highlighted.
She said, “The Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development as well as the Department of Education have been working hand in hand with the respective schools to ensure there are safety protocols in place.”
Davidson-Celestine said that there were existing protocols such as social distancing, sinks on the outside of the schools and the wearing of masks.
She said, “There were also education programmes so children can continue to have all the required information and a sick bay has been put in place whereby there would be regular checks and monitoring of the school age children.”
