By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Point Fortin Hospital that has been designated as a Covid-19 facility will no longer be used for that purpose and is in the process of being decommissioned.
The announcement came from Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on Wednesday as he said that Covid-19 hospital cases were decreasing.
He said not only hospital rates were decreasing but also stepdown and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Unit (HDU) rates.
The minister was speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference.
The facility is one of the first of Covid-19 facilities during the pandemic to be reverted to its regular general use.
Deyalsingh said there were just under 30 Covid-19 patients at the new Point Fortin Hospital and that has been a pattern over the past couple of weeks.
He said, “In looking at that, we took a decision after consultation with all the stakeholders in the RHA’s (Regional Health Authorities) together with the MP for Point Fortin and the mayor of Point Fortin so they are all aware of this, that the Point Fortin Hospital in the short to medium term is going to be de-commissioned as a Covid facility and returned to the people, the burgesses of Point Fortin for their use as a general hospital.”
Deyalsingh added, “This will have significant benefits to Point Fortin, so that they will no longer have to travel to San Fernando to access primary and secondary care.”
The minister said from Thursday, no new Covid-19 patient will be admitted to the hospital but will be admitted and sent to other designated Covid-19 facilities depending on the type of care required.
The patients currently at the hospital will continue to be treated in the next coming days and as they recover and are well enough to go to their homes or a step-down facility, they will be sent to the one most suitable at the appropriate time.
“We envisage that that process could take about ten to 14 days,” he said.
Within the next two weeks, if everything went according to plan, there should be no more Covid-19 patients at the Point Fortin Hospital, Deyalsingh said.
He said when that occurs, the hospital will be deep cleaned, thoroughly sanitised and restocked with everything that was needed to operate a general hospital. That process should take approximately one week.
“Once that is finished, we leave the facility as we say in local parlance ‘to air out’ for another five to seven days.”
He is estimating that about the middle of March, all of those processes should be completed and then persons along the southwestern district can once again have access to the general hospital.
Deyalsingh said, “This is a very important step we are making as our Covid-19 response evolves and as our hospital numbers come down.”
