Press Conference & COVID-19 Update (April 5, 2020)

Press Conference & COVID-19 Update (April 5, 2020)

Posted by Barbados Government Information Service on Sunday, April 5, 2020
Press conference and COVID-19 update with Minister of Health and Wellness, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic. (April 5, 2020)

The new medical facility at Harrison Point, St. Lucy, with 220 beds for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, will be handed over by the contractors to the Ministry of Health and Wellness tomorrow.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic, made the announcement today at a press briefing held at Ilaro Court.

He said that the process of outfitting the facility with the required medical equipment would immediately begin, so that it could be put into service “in the shortest possible time”.

This facility, the Minister disclosed, would provide an additional 38 beds with ventilation capacity and 182 isolation beds for critical care and treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, he announced that a 100-person team of intensive care specialists from the Republic of Cuba will arrive in Barbados today, in order to provide respite and support for the local medical teams which have been on the frontline of treating COVID-19 positive patients.

He thanked the Government and people of Cuba for their support of Barbados, noting that there was great demand for their medical services worldwide.

The Health and Wellness Minister commended the local healthcare workers for working “gruelling hours in the most demanding of circumstances”.         

Further support was coming, he said, from the private medical community, since “a significant number” of medical practitioners and other medical professionals had offered their services to the Government and people of Barbados.

“They will form a volunteer corps in support of the effort to continue to provide the best medical care, not only for those infected by COVID-19, but for the range of medical services that will continue to be delivered for our people,” he shared.

Minister Bostic added: “On behalf of the Government and people of Barbados, I thank them sincerely for coming forward in this time of national public health emergency.”

joy.springer@barbados.gov.bb

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