Gopeesingh: Is there an oxygen problem at Pt Fortin Hospital?

Former UNC MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh is calling on the Health Minister to say if there is a problem with the oxygen system at the Pt Fortin Hospital.

At the Opposition’s weekly media briefing on Sunday, Gopeesingh said he understood there was a problem with the system at the hospital.

“What is the problem with the oxygen system in the Point Fortin Hospital? Are there any difficulties patients are experiencing getting the oxygen?”

He asked the question as he said the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led administration was the one to refurbish or commence or finish construction on several of the facilities being used in the parallel health care system, including the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, and the Arima Hospital.

Gopeesingh accused the Health Ministry of deceiving the population into thinking that the parallel health care system meant there were more beds, infrastructure and health care personnel to take care of covid19 patients.

“What they have done is separate existing beds from the main population to use for the so-called parallel healthcare system. They are taking beds in the hospitals from patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and strokes, and compromising their health care.

“On the one hand, the parallel system is at its worst with 2,090 deaths, and on the other hand patients with comorbidities who are supposed to be getting adequate management are finding it difficult to have control, and this is why they are falling prey to covid19 with uncontrolled comorbidities.”

He said the system had also failed in that there were thousands of patients waiting for elective surgeries, some of whom were dying while waiting.

Gopeesingh called for booster doses for people 60 and over, with or without comorbidities. He said the third-dose “rhetoric” being used by the health ministry is “semantics from an uncaring government.”

He said the Prime Minister had admitted in his speech on Thursday that the health care system is under imminent threat of complete and total collapse. Gopeesingh said Dr Rowley left out, what Gopeesingh called, several failures on the part of the government in its fight against covid19.

“He omitted the call by the UNC for discussion of covid19 before January 2020, allowing visitors for Carnival 2020, underpreparedness for testing and tracing, ill-preparedness for managing early quarantine, staff shortages, failure of early vaccine acquisition while hundreds of deaths were occurring, confusion in vaccine drive, and allowing mingling of people during the Easter long weekend.

“He left out the failure to get remdesivir when private-sector institutions are using it now, mono-clonal antibodies of Tocilizumab, and plasma from Regeneron for patients in HDU and ICU. These measures could save lives. You’ve spent $500 million on covid19, but you’re not purchasing these lifesaving drugs. Is it that you want these people to die while there are lifesaving drugs that can be used to save their lives?”

In July at a covid19 briefing, the Ministry of Health had announced that Tocilizumab – an Interleukin 6 (IL-6) receptor blocker, was approved on July 6 by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use in the treatment of covid19 and was available in Trinidad and Tobago.

Thoracic care medical specialist Dr Michelle Trotman said then, “That drug is available and I am actually very happy to report that CMO (Chief Medical Officer, Dr Rosham Parasram) has approved guidelines that has allowed us to already administer drugs to one such patient.”

She reminded that Remdesivir, Lopinavir/Ritonavir, Hydroxychloroquine, and Ivermectin did not receive WHO approval for covid19 treatment, and was therefore not authorised to be used in that manner in TT.

Gopeesingh said the government had not paid attention to a study by UWI in February 2021 that said there needed to be general knowledge and vaccine awareness campaigns by the government to combat vaccine hesitancy. He said doing this with experienced health care professionals going into communities could help people with anxiety over the vaccine to overcome their fears.

He listed some of the measures the UNC would take if it was in power. He said it would immediately examine issues related to clinical management of citizens at home, ambulances, and emergency tents, as well as clinical management in HDUs and ICUs.

“We would determine required staff levels of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers, and fill all vacancies at all levels.

“We would provide care and support for covid19 patients at home and identify criteria for home vs state quarantine. We would make sure there were sufficient supplies for wards, HDUs, and ICUs, improve ambulance efficiency, and ensure the necessary stocking of pharmaceuticals.

“We would make sure PCR tests were less expensive. Sometimes people have to do three tests and they can’t afford it. Are you surprised that people are dying not knowing their status because they can’t afford the testing?”

PCR tests done through the public health system are free.