By Chantalé Fletcher
THERE is still a high ratio of critically ill Covid-19 patients versus those recovering.
This according to Principal Medical Officer of Institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards who spoke at the Ministry of Health virtual conference on Monday.
Dr Abdool-Richards said the gap between admissions and discharges continued to be narrow over the last two days.
“This showed that less additional persons are being added into the system requiring care,” she stated.
Dr Abdool-Richards explained, “Since July 15, there has been a plateau in the actual number of patients in the system. This is an important indicator that does not take into account the increased number of facilities and so it gives an indication of the actual burden on the system.”
She said, “As of today (Monday), there are now 382 persons within the parallel healthcare system divided by the hospitals versus step-down facilities. We continue to notice a three to one and four to one ratio of severely and critically-ill patients versus those recovering.”
The PMO stated that the overall percentage occupancy of Trinidad and Tobago was 37%. However, this was broken down as 38% in Trinidad and 34% in Tobago.
Dr Abdool-Richards said, “Eight out of nine hospitals in the parallel healthcare system and six out of seven in Trinidad continue to be under the critical level of 75%, while all seven step-down facilities are under 75% threshold.”
She added there was 35% occupancy at ward levels which dealt with less ill patients.
Dr Abdool-Richards also said on Monday morning, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was at 64% while the High Dependency Unit (HDU) at 43%.
The PMO said, “The occupancy levels in the ICU and HDU continue to be high as the average ICU occupancy over the last month was at 80% while 67% in HDU.”
There were 1,022 beds in the system which was distributed between T&T, 14 facilities in Trinidad and two hospitals in Tobago, she said.
Dr Abdool-Richards explained that nine facilities were for severely and critically ill patients while there were seven used as step-down facilities for recovering patients.
And she described the rolling average as constant between the last two days, with 185 versus 186.
“This provides a predictor as to how many beds would be needed within the next three to five days,” she said.
