Sav-la-Mar field hospital to open February 3
Published:Tuesday | February 1, 2022 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
ERIC CLARKE, chairman of the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), is reporting that preparations are in high gear for the completion and official opening of the delayed COVID-19 field hospital in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.
He said the official opening of the 32-bed field hospital, which is located on the grounds of the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, is now set for February 3.
Clarke noted that most of the construction is finished, but there are a few other things, including a staff bathroom, that are still being built to ensure that members of the medical team are comfortable.
Furniture for the facility has also been ordered, he said.
Last August, it was announced that a field hospital would have been ready in two weeks to accommodate an overflow from the large number of COVID-19 patients at the Westmoreland hospital during the third surge of the coronavirus infections, pushing the hospital administrators to scramble to find bed space.
Though the field hospital has come five months behind schedule, Clarke said the “entire project is on budget”.
When normality returns, the field hospital will be repurposed and replaced with a permanent building to further extend the bed count and other services.
“Savanna-la-Mar is one of those hospitals that with or without COVID-19 has always had a problem with bed occupancy. We definitely need the additional space,” the WRHA chairman said.
In March 2020, Jamaica discovered its first case of the coronavirus. Since then, the numbers have climbed to 124,102 as at Saturday.
There have been 2,650 COVID-19 deaths overall, with 11 new fatalities recorded on Saturday.