SERHA to get 175 new hospital beds
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) is to receive 175 new hospital beds.
This follows Cabinet’s approval of the award of a $70.89-million contract to Advance Procurement Limited to supply and install the beds. SERHA comprises public health facilities in St Catherine, St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew.
Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams, made the disclosure during a virtual post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday.
The announcement comes amidst reports of hospitals facing increased pressure, largely due to the heightened number of coronavirus (COVID-19)-related admissions.
Some of the issues include overcrowding, lack of beds or shortage of doctors.
Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton on Monday informed that five of the nine SERHA hospitals have exceeded their capacity to house patients requiring isolation care.
The facilities — University Hospital of the West Indies, Kingston Public, National Chest,
Spanish Town, and Princess Margaret hospitals — are classified as being in the ‘red zone’, meaning that “they have greater than 84 per cent occupancy level for their isolation capacity”.
Up to yesterday, Jamaica had 28, 968 cases of COVID-19 and 475 deaths due to the virus.
