By Chantalé Fletcher
HIGH demand by Covid-19 patients continue for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds across Trinidad and Tobago in the accident and emergency departments and the parallel healthcare system.
This according to Principal Medical Officer of Institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards at the Ministry of Health virtual press conference on Monday.
Dr Abdool-Richards said on Monday morning there were 72 ICU beds in Trinidad and nine in Tobago.
She said six of the nine beds in Tobago were occupied while 69 out of 71 beds were filled in Trinidad.
Dr Abdool-Richards said the overall hospital occupancy continued to be high at 70%.
She said, “There were currently 640 patients in the parallel healthcare system, 471 in hospitals and 169 in step-down facilities. While at the A&E departments, there were 161 patients currently receiving care for Covid-19 of which 28 were ICU level care patients.”
The doctor said the overall percentage of persons not fully vaccinated continued to be high and consistent with 90% or more in the ICU’s and the A&E’s departments.
Experiences in A&E
Dr Abdool-Richards said critically and severely ill continue to present themselves to hospital.
She said that some were not fully vaccinated and they had coexisting medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, cancer and hypertension. “We continue to see those persons and their relatives contacting the ambulance services but then refusing admission, even after our physicians and ambulance team on telephone try their best to convince relatives.”
Dr Abdool-Richards said, “These persons often return two to three days later and we have noted in the initial call, they would have been ward level, but not at an ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) level, which was very concerning for us.”
She predicted an increase in Covid-19 cases within the next week after the 14 to 21 day period from the start of the increased movement for the Christmas festivities.
Dr Abdool-Richards encouraged the public to seek medical attention upon early signs or symptoms to reduce the demand on the ICU and HDU level care beds and their supporting resources.
In response to a question from AZPNews.com on persons losing confidence in the public and parallel healthcare system, she said all health protocols were based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
“We have dedicated specialist teams, equipment, specialist ICU care, nurses and other senior nurses testing apparatus and all supporting resources available in the A&E and the parallel healthcare system.”
She said in the event people at home required oxygen therapy, they should be admitted to a hospital facility to receive the required care from the specialist team and have access to more testing, diagnostics and ventilatory support.
