Ministry mindful of capacity, cost for covid19 treatment

The government has been mindful in managing it's resources and finances when attempting to contain and treat people diagnosed with the coronavirus.

Responding to concerns over a possible saturation of the parallel healthcare system in TT by coronavirus patients, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram sought to assure the public that there were adequate resources in place to house potential cases.

Parasram made the remarks during the Ministry of Health's virtual media conference on Monday, in which he said there were enough facilities available to adequately accommodate over 100 suspected covid19 patients.

He said while it was highly unlikely all 103 of the current pending samples would return as positive, there were enough rooms in place in such an event.

"We don't expect all will be positive, it is highly unlikely, however the parallel healthcare system can cater to that clinical load. Our clinical capacity is much greater than that, in Caura alone we have 100 spaces allocated and there are just under 200 spaces in the Couva facility, so there is enough space in that facility."

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh also agreed with Parasram, but noted that while there were sufficient resources in place for patients, the government would continue to closely regulate the use of beds at its various facilities to prevent overcrowding.

He said issues relating to housing patients diagnosed with infectious diseases presented a unique challenge to the authorities as the occupancy of health facilities had to be further reduced to minimise possible transmission.

"If we have 400 beds for convalescence, quarantine and so on, you have to take that down (occupancy) to about 75 per cent which brings you down to about 306, so bringing in more people we have to wait until we turn over those facilities to bring in more people.

"That is why the calls of some people in some quarters to open is such an uninformed, uneducated call that is quite frankly dangerous to the health of TT."

This management of patients and resources were not limited to quarantine facilities on land, as Deyalsingh said the Ministry of Health has been closely monitoring the spacing of 300 passengers aboard the Enchantress of the Seas cruise ship. The passengers in quarantine on that cruise ship are a conglomeration of TT workers gathered from several different Royal Caribbean cruise ships.

Deyalsingh said strict spacing guidelines were being imposed on the Enchantress to minimise the risk of infection.

Parasram also said there were enough rooms aboard the ship to comfortably and safely accommodate the remaining 300 passengers aboard.

He said the passengers were asymptomatic and were routinely subjected to temperature testing and swabbing by staff.

Newsday spoke to Parasram after the media conference who said he could not confirm whether all six of covid19 positive passengers originated from the same ship.

"I can't answer that right off the bat but my hunch is no, I don't think they would be from the same vessel.

"I got the names late yesterday evening but they didn't designate where they came from. I didn't look into it as yet."

In terms of cost, Deyalsingh responded to questions over the cost to treat an individual patient and confirmed the estimated cost was placed between $100,000 to $200,000 per patient.

"It is my responsibility to manage resources, whether it be physical resources, human resources, medical, financial because this next phase as we allow more and more people to come in, we don't know how long it will last, we don't know how many people we have to treat.

"That's why I was at pains in my opening statement to say that as your Minister of Health it is my responsibility to manage resources."

Referring to an incident abroad where a man was charged, $1.1 million for his covid19 treatment, Deyalsingh said it was fortunate that healthcare was free for patients in TT.