More patients are turning up at the San Fernando General Hospital with viruses, including chikungunya and dengue, but this is not the cause of the bed shortage. CEO of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) Anil Gosine said the shortage of beds was not because the hospital was overwhelmed with ChikV patients.
“We do have patients waiting for beds, but I would not say because of ChikV. There seems to be a virus going around and the patients are staying longer than the normal three days. Some are staying four and five days and sometimes that ties up the bed space. “But at this point in San Fernando, it’s not because of ChikV virus.”
Gosine confirmed that while there were ChikV cases in the SWRHA region, “there isn’t a large amount. We are getting some dengue cases in the region, but again not in large amounts. At this time of the year we do get a few different type of viruses.” Referring to the continuing bed shortage at the hospital, Gosine said that this was because a shortage of nurses made it difficult to manage the wards efficiently.
He said that while several wards had been transferred to the new wing at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, the space created in the main hospital could not be utilised because of the nursing shortage. He said they required approximately 100 more nurses to efficiently manage the hospital and by the end of November the hospital should have reached its full complement of nurses. “We expect to have 35 nurses by the first week in October and the others will come incrementally.”
Gosine said within another week or so, what was originally Ward 12 in the main hospital would be moved to the teaching hospital. This will create another 20 bed spaces.
...None at POSGH either—ministry
The Ministry of Health has denied claims that there is a shortage of beds at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, due to the overwhelming number of people seeking treatment for the chikungunya virus.
Reports surfaced over the weekend that members of the public had to be turned away from the hospital after staff were inundated with requests for tests by people exhibiting symptoms which included fever, body aches and pains, swelling of joints, a red blotchy rash about the body, coughing, sneezing and runny nose. Patients were reportedly kept waiting for hours while tests were done, with some being treated and warded.
Contacted on Monday, officials from the ministry denied the claims, adding there was “no merit” to the reports. Officials explained that apart from the chikungunya virus, tests also had to be done for dengue fever which continued to present a threat. A viral illness was also circulating, officials said, whose symptoms closely mirrored that of the chikungunya virus, which was creating panic and sending people in droves to the hospital.
However, officials have given the assurance that there are ample beds available for anyone needing to be hospitalised at public institutions. Checks at private hospitals revealed that they also had experienced a slight increase in the number of people seeking tests to confirm whether they had contracted the chikungunya virus.
-Anna-Lisa Paul