–despite health workers testing positive for COVID-19, says President Ali

EVEN with over 200 health workers, inclusive of 50 doctors, testing positive for COVID-19, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has assured Guyanese that the delivery of healthcare services remains unhindered across the country.
Dr. Ali said that the government remains committed to providing efficient healthcare services, despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most countries now are moving in a direction of cutting off service delivery from the public healthcare system… they are going to a situation that we had from the inception of COVID-19, where there was the cancellation of surgeries and they are now focusing only on emergencies… we are not heading into that direction because we believe that the system can operate and manage even with the challenges that we have now,” President Ali said during a media briefing on Wednesday.

The Head of State related that 70 per cent of the doctors and 50 per cent of the nurses who have tested positive for the virus, are from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
He said that of the 200 health workers currently positive with COVID-19, 50 are doctors, 75 are nurses and 45 are medical technicians, while other medical personnel account for the remaining 30.

Director of Medical and Professional Services at GPHC, Dr. Fawcett Jeffrey, echoed the President’s sentiments, and reiterated that the facility has the capacity to cater to the wide-ranging medical needs of its patients, despite several of its staff testing positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Jeffrey said that, while a significant number of persons tested positive, those persons are not from the same department and, as such, do not leave a major deficit in the facility’s ability to provide services to its patients.

The OB/GYN and pediatrics departments, which are both high-traffic areas, have seen the largest single infection of workers across the facility. According to Dr. Jeffery, some seven out of 32 OB/GYN doctors have tested positive for the virus.

He said this marginally low number enables the facility to continue offering services to patients of the hospital.

Even so, the doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from both the OB/GYN and pediatrics departments who are infected with COVID-19, are set to return to work within five to seven days and will boost the manpower of the facility.

Dr. Jeffery said that among the plans in place to protect healthcare professionals at the facility are improved screening protocols. He said that an improved screening process is necessary, given the high volume of patients and visitor interactions at the facility.

He added that the visitation protocol will also be reviewed to ensure all safety and social distancing protocols are observed.

PUSH BACK
As it is now, there is a significant push back against the hospital’s protocols by relatives of patients.

“With visitation, even though we tried to say to persons visiting their families that the number of you that go to the hospital can negatively impact COVID-19, we have fights at the gate and difficulty at the gate because people think that they are being restricted from seeing their family members.

“But in COVID-19 times, the protocol says that we permit one family member to visit, so that we could reduce numbers, we could socially distance, and we could keep the possibility of cross-contamination from getting higher,” Dr. Jeffery related.

He said that on many occasions, the “altercations” at the gate put the staff of GPHC at higher risk of contracting the disease, especially since persons take off their masks so that their voices can be heard.
Dr. Jeffery said that it was important for the population to help GPHC in the fight against COVID-19.

To this end, he said: “[You need to] understand that this is a time when you have to understand that we cannot permit more than one family member to visit someone in the hospital, and when you go to the hospital be cooperative… you need to assist us so that we could be in control of this situation.”