Health Ministry adds 110 beds to parallel healthcare system

THE Health Ministry has added 110 more beds to its parallel healthcare system, bringing the total number of beds to 662.

In addition, it has launched a fourth level of care at the hospitals, called "halfway houses," to treat recovering covid19 patients.

Principal medical officer of institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards announced this at the ministry's virtual press conference on Monday.

Abdool-Richards said this country's rolling seven-day average of covid19 cases is now at 300, and that 15 of every 100 patients are requiring hospitalisation.

She said of the three main levels of care (ward-level, Intensive Care Unit , High Dependency Unit), "Our major need or demand is in the ward-level beds."

The ministry has also launched a fourth level of "halfway houses" for those who are recovering but "not yet fit to go home.

"Firstly, persons are between the hospital in terms of the ward and at home. This means that they are really allowed to function a little more independently. Their level of care may be less, but they are still being observed...It allows the freeing-up of spaces in the continued facilities. So it means that persons are able to move into new facilities, which are the secondary- and tertiary-care facilities."

Over the weekend, 50 beds were added to the Debe step-down facility, 20 at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) Valsyn campus and 40 at the Point Fortin Hospital.

So the number of ward-level beds in the parallel healthcare system is now 572 and 662 across all four levels of care.

Richards said on Monday morning, the Couva Hospital was at 86 per cent occupancy, but that 20 people should be "stepped down" at the end of the day. She said 12 people had already been transferred.

But she urged, "Increasing beds is not the answer to the covid19 pandemic," but rather, to follow the public health guidelines and regulations.

As of 4 pm on Sunday, there were 3,907 active cases of the virus in Trinidad and Tobago and 211 deaths.