Mandeville hospital implements surge plan after 34 staff members get COVID-19
MANCHESTER, Jamaica — The Mandeville Regional Hospital (MRH) in Manchester says it is currently reorganising its workflows and implementing its surge plan after 34 of its staff members tested positive for the COVID-19 in recent days.
The hospital has 780 staff members and since March 2020, 61 have contracted the virus, of which 27 have fully recovered and are back at work, the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) reported.
It said two microbiologists and a public health team are currently investigating the circumstances under which 27 members of the operating theatre and High Dependency Unit (HDU) teams contracted the virus.
Read: 27 staff members test COVID positive at Mandeville hospital
MRH CEO Alwyn Miller disclosed that investigations revealed that 10 of the active cases are likely to have been contracted outside of the hospital.
Miller noted that sanitising of the operating theatre is guided by the highest established standards, done after each case, and again at the end of each day.
Meanwhile, SRHA Regional Director, Michael Bent noted that the hospital’s COVID-19 20-bed isolation ward is at full capacity, but said the SRHA which oversees the hospital had anticipated the challenges of the pandemic and had developed a surge plan for the region early 2020, which included the identification of additional beds on and off-site to manage any increase in numbers.
The SRHA oversees health facilities in Manchester, Clarendon and St Elizabeth.
“The Surge Plan’s first tier includes repurposing an additional ward to serve as a 16-bed isolation ward and redistribution of patients who can be managed at other hospitals in the region. In addition, there is a 30-bed facility at the Kendal Camp and Conference Centre in Manchester, and a 12-bed facility at Font Hill, St Elizabeth, for recovering patients who do not need hospitalisation,” Bent explained.
“We assure the public that while we are stretched, we are not broken, as from the onset of the pandemic we have anticipated most of the challenges we now face. We continue to serve the public in the best way possible in all areas of healthcare, thanks to our dedicated team” Bent added.
