$41 million Infectious unit commissioned at New Amsterdam Hospital

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, on Saturday, commissioned a 15-bed Infectious Unit in the compound of the New Amsterdam Hospital, East Berbice-Corentyne, (Region Six),

The unit contains male, female wards, maternity and pediatric wards. It is expected to aid in the fight against Covid-19, which is now in the fourth spike since the pandemic began.

Regional Health Officer, Dr. Vishalya Sharma said though the hospital is well established, it does not have adequate space to accommodate Covid-19 patients.

“At the start of the pandemic, we weren’t prepared to handle the cases that we do now, we would have zero to little inpatient facility to monitor and give our patients the quality of care that we want to however, today, is a very significant day in the region because we commissioned our own unit,” Dr. Sharma said.

She noted that with the new facility, patients would be much more comfortable and better care can be provided.

“We would have had to allocate places, rescope areas in the institution to manage cases, however with this unit it will take a lot of pressure off the main institution and we can manage our patients in this exact area.

The region currently has under 127 active cases.

Dr. Anthony, during his main address at the commissioning ceremony, noted that since the onset of Covid-19 on March 11,2020, there have been major improvements in managing the disease. He said as of January/ February this year, 75,000 Covid-19 tests were done and the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Lilliendaal has been outfitted with oxygen catering directly to 195 beds, as well as having adequate ventilators for patients.

He said capacity has also been built at the regional hospitals.

“During this year, not only would we have built infrastructure but we would have trained people and made sure that they are better equipped to treat Covid-19 patients.”

“These facilities are not going to be idle, because for the next wave of Covid infections we are even better prepared, and if and when we get out of these waves of Covid infections we would repurpose this to make sure that we could use it for other types of infectious diseases, so it is important that we have these resources,” Dr. Anthony stated.

Meanwhile, CEO of the New Amsterdam Hospital Dr. Bob Ramnauth said since the hospital was built 17 years ago it never had an infectious disease unit, and makeshift areas had to be used.

He urged the users of the facility to ensure it is properly maintained.