Covid Hospitalizations Remain High

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Though new COVID-19 cases have decreased in recent weeks, Doctors Hospital Chief Financial Officer Dennis Deveaux says hospitalizations remain high at the private healthcare facility.

Deveaux gave an analysis of the COVID-19 situation at the hospital during Abaco business outlook.

Jasmin Brown reports.

Deveaux said compared to the covid situation a year ago, hospitalizations have shot up.

In August, Dr. Charles Diggiss, CEO of Doctors Hospital, admitted that things had gotten so bad that medical staff were having to decide which patients were put on a ventilator.

Health officials at Princess Margaret Hospital similarly reported that the facility was on the brink of collapse due to the high volume of covid patients.

Deveaux said Doctors Hospital has taken on a number of public patients since the start of the pandemic and continues to support the gaps in the public delivery system.

As of Thursday, 127 patients were in hospital – 33 of them were at Doctor’s Hospital, which is under the 59 patients it had in early September but far more than the numbers it saw earlier in the year.

Deveaux said Doctors’ Hospital has conducted just under 700,000 covid tests and will likely zero in on a million tests fairly soon.

Reporting for Our News, I’m Jasmin Brown.