Overcrowding easing at SFGH

YVONNE WEBB

Overcrowding at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) has significantly improved from Tuesday. By midday on Wednesday, there were only 13 patients waiting for beds, as opposed to the 38 the day before, medical director Dr Pravinde Ramoutar said.

Patients who were well enough to be discharged were sent home, freeing up some beds. However, Ramoutar is still advising patients to use the other 33 facilities available in the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) to ease the strain on the SFGH. He said there are some empty beds at the Point Fortin Area Hospital and some patients from the SFGH were stabilised and sent there for admission, as one of the interim measures to ease the situation.

Overcrowding reared its ugly head at the SFGH on Tuesday and beds were reserved only for the very ill.

Ramoutar said the lines in the Accident and Emergency room were long, but had nothing to do with the flu which is causing a similar backlog to that in the United States, nor with the annual ritual of people leaving their elderly relatives at the hospital while they fete for Carnival.

“It is the normal spike in admission of people seeking attention for medical problems such as hypertension, stroke, uncontrolled diabetes, chest pains.”

He said he has been observing this trend for about a week and said patients should not seek care at the SFGH, unless they required a bed.

The SWRHA also issued an advisory saying while it is seeking to cope with the serious overcrowding in the emergency department, priority was given to ensure all patients were given the appropriate medical care. The SWRHA said despite its efforts to place patients in every appropriate available bed, the hospital continues to exceed its capacity. “As a result, patients are retained in the ward on temporary beds at the emergency department until bed space becomes available. During this time, they are attended to by doctors and nurses. Every effort is being made by the medical officers to provide an appropriate level of care to patients until they are considered well enough to be discharged,” the release said. Ramoutar said the district health facilities at Point Fortin, Siparia, Couva and Princes Town provided bed space and a 24-hour service and also offered auxiliary support such as radiology and pharmacy services.

SWRHA’s 33 health centres are open on weekdays between 8am and 4 pm.