Ministry decommissions step-down facilities

Camp Balandra- Ayanna Kinsale
Camp Balandra- Ayanna Kinsale

THE Health Ministry has decommissioned the Camp Balandra and Brooklyn step-down facilities in Sangre Grande.

Speaking at Wednesday’s covid19 media conference, principal medical officer in charge of institutions Dr Maryam Richards said this move was carried out based on the reduced immediate need for the 74 beds at the two facilities, 42 at Camp Balandra and 32 at Brooklyn.

She said the Camp Balandra facility commissioned when there was a need to find a facility that would have held 68 or 70 people when there was a need to house the returning nationals from the cruise ship in Guadeloupe in March. The Brooklyn facility was commissioned as a step-down facility.

She said both facilities were being rented so there was a cost to the ministry and the government by extension.

“In time we were able to use state facilities, for example, those that fall under the government such as the UTT and UWI, so we actually gave up 74 spaces, and in turn, we have been able to develop 150 spaces at UTT Valsayn Campus, and allocated 15 beds for the elderly at Tacarigua, so the decommissioning is as a result of the increase in capacity from the facilities and as a cost-saving measure moving forward.”

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Richards said there are now 21 facilities in the parallel health care system, divided into four levels. The first level is that of hospitals, where very ill covid19 positive people are treated. There are currently 106 people in hospital between Caura, Couva, Augustus Long, Arima, Scarborough, and St Ann’s Hospital. Suspected cases are treated at the Augustus Long and Arima Hospitals.

The second consists of step-down facilities for symptomatic patients whose symptoms are not severe but who require isolation.

As of Wednesday, there are 13 people in stepdown facilities, 10 at the UWI Debe campus and three in Tobago. With 645 beds, this is two per cent of the step-down capacity.

The third level is state-supervised and state quarantine facilities. There are 182 people in those facilities, taking up 48 per cent of the 379 bed capacity.

Richards said the total occupancy of the parallel health care system has been at between 22 to 32 percent capacity for the past three to four weeks with the introduction of home quarantine.

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"Ministry decommissions step-down facilities"

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