Before the break - we told you about the new health regulations - and Dr Sabido explained how they will hopefully be able to avert 250 new infections, 150 new hospitalizations, 15 ICU admissions and 10 deaths. This will then ease the burden on the health system specifically on the national referral hospital. Dr Andre Sosa spoke about what the situation is currently like at the hospital.
Dr. Andre Sosa - Chairman, KHMH
"In the 16 days of September that have passed so far, we have already had 62 admission to KHMH. In all of August we had 61 admissions and August marked the greatest number of admissions since last year. So obviously, there is a problem. Our COVID ward was designed for 23 persons, for the last 2 weeks we've been at 30 persons more or less, so obviously we've had to make more space to accommodate those additional patients. There is more space that we can make use of, however that space is not unlimited and with more patients there is a greater need for staff and a greater need for equipment and other resources, again, those are not unlimited. On a happy note, today marks the first day that we have dipped below 20 cases admitted, we are at 19, sadly however, we have already experienced 2 more deaths today. The deaths continue to add up and each death is a tragedy for the families, for the country."
Since the rollout of the vaccinations, the COVID related admissions at the KHMH have been 134 unvaccinated, 31 with their first dose and only 12 with both doses.
