Pointe-a-Pierre hospital ready for covid19 patients

The Augustus Long Hospital and Hostel located in Pointe-a-Pierre has been refurbished to accommodate 60 patients in the fight against covid19.

Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited (TPHL) in a media release said the upgrade of the facility included a high dependency and intensive care units, that are equipped with ventilator machines and monitors.

It added that the ground floor has been fixed to receive ambulances and ambulatory patients. The hospital also has additional facilities to accommodate healthcare workers.

TPHL chairman Michael Quamina said, “This facility ensures that health workers on the frontlines of the covid19 pandemic in TT will have access to another hospital with additional medical resources to save lives in the fight against this dangerous virus.”

The operations of the facility was handed over to the Ministry of Health, which also had oversight in the refurbishment to ensure that it met clinical standards.

Principal Medical Officer at the Health Ministry Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said, “The refurbishment of this hospital and hostel will serve as an additional health facility in our national parallel health care system for the covid19 response.”

Other facilities that are being used to treat covid19 patients are the Caura hospital and the Couva Medical and Multi-Training Facility.

The Government announced that the newly-constructed Arima General Hospital would also be used to treat covid19 patients. It has been equipped with 150 beds, of which ten have been designated for the intensive care and high dependency units.

According to TPHL, the refurbishment of the Augustus Long Hospital and Hostel was done through donations from several construction contractors and furnishings contractors but did not indicate the total cost of the remedial work.