Health Minister: Unused field hospital ‘a good asset to have’

The 60-bed field hospital donated to the government by Qatar remains unused and Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said despite a surge in hospitalisations last year, there was no need for the hospital but it remains “a good asset.”

“We didn’t deploy it because we didn’t have a need to because, at our maximum intake, we were never overwhelmed, although we did make plans in case,” Dr Anthony told reporters at the sidelines of an event at the Roraima Duke Lodge in Georgetown on Friday.

The hospital was expected to bolster Guyana’s capacity to deal with COVID-19 and even now with the monkeypox virus, local health authorities are still deliberating whether there would be such for such a facility.

The Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara has a 195-bed capacity with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) that could have 55 beds.

When asked if the hospital can potentially be used in the future, Dr Anthony responded: “Field hospitals can be used for different conditions, so it is not just infectious diseases. So we if have any disaster, we can move it, set it up and help persons in those disaster conditions.

“It is a good asset to have, whether to use or not is left to be seen.”

The portable field hospital arrived here in January 2021.

It comprises 60 beds with mattresses, blankets and pillows, 12 air-conditioners, eight carpets, one generator, 20 respirators, 20,000 types of small and large medical equipment and one diesel tank.

Since arriving, the hospital has not been set up and remains unused until the health authorities decide.

Initially, it was reported that this hospital would be used to manage critically ill COVID-19 patients.

However, the equipment that came is better suited to provide quarantine services to patients, Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy had explained.