– funds to be spent on retrofitting, equipping and establishing ICU

By Navendra Seoraj

GUYANA has already expended $1.6 billion on the infectious diseases hospital at Liliendaal, but the facility, which was built by the former APNU+AFC administration, will need $790 million in additional work before it is fully operationalised.
“Given the poor planning that went into the conceptualisation of this facility, we are forced to budget a further $790 million in addition to the $1.6 billion already sunk, to operationalise the infectious disease hospital,” said Minister of Public Infrastructure, Juan Edghill, while presenting government’s $329.5 billion budget to the National Assembly, on Wednesday.
The former government had said the new facility, which was established at the site of the former Ocean View Hotel, will serve as the first all-inclusive infectious diseases facility, and would eventually remove the constraints from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the regional and district hospitals, especially in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

It was reported that the facility has a capacity for 190 beds and also caters for laboratories, a pharmacy, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), an operating theatre and even a mortuary. A section of the facility was also set to house the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC), a surveillance centre, a research centre and administrative offices.

A closer examination of the facility by the new People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government revealed major inefficiencies in not just the physical aspect of the project, but also the deal between the former government and the owner of the former hotel, Jacob Rambarran.

In highlighting some of those inefficiencies, Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo, had said there is no flow of air in the facility, so there is a possibility of everyone becoming infected. There is also no provision for oxygen in the wall, and the Audit Office, in a past inspection, had found mold in the building.
Persons had called the facility a ‘shell.’ But considering the “hefty chunk” of tax dollars which were spent on this project, the new government chose to not ignore the project.

DIFFERENT THINGS
“We have to look at the different things that we will use the funds ($790 million) for,” said Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, in an invited comment on Saturday.
Authorities had already transferred patients with mild symptoms of COVID-19 from GPHC to a section of the infectious diseases hospital, but Dr. Anthony said a number of issues have since been identified.
Those issues, he said, were related to plumbing and electrical deficiencies, things which will be addressed through the use of the additional funding.

“Some of the work will focus on the retrofitting of plumping and all of that… we recognise that we have to do plumbing and wiring in the whole place… a lot of expenses,” Minister Anthony lamented.

Funding will also go towards purchasing equipment for the facility and the establishment of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The idea to establish a special COVID-19 facility was put to government by the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) after a new study found that Guyana could have as many as 20,000 COVID-19 cases in a month.
The Ministry of Health, using the PAHO/WHO method, had initially projected 1,400 cases, but a recent study done by PAHO/WHO found that, with every case, another 2.5 persons will be affected within five days, if there is no partial lockdown, and if persons do not exercise effective social distancing.

“That 2.5, if I infect you, you infect 2.5 others and they infect another 2.5. Within a month we will get over 20,000; it’s a simple model but it makes a lot of sense,” said PAHO/WHO Resident Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, in a previous News Room report.

And should this happen, Dr. Adu-Krow said five per cent or 1,000 of those infected would need intensive care, and Guyana simply does not have the capacity for this.

Guyana has so far recorded 1,763 cases of COVID-19. But 1,144 of those persons have since recovered while 52 persons have lost their lives. Of the remaining cases, 46 persons are in institutional isolation and 508 are in home isolation, while 13 persons are being treated in the COVID-19 ICU.