MONTEGO BAY, St James — With almost all of its beds earmarked for COVID-19 patients already in use, and the number of people who need them increasing daily, Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) is now looking at scaling back on the treatment it provides for non-COVID-related cases.

According to senior medical officer for the facility, Dr Derek Harvey, as of Wednesday, 41 of the 50 beds were occupied. The number, he said, may have increased overnight as a significant number of COVID-19 confirmed and suspected patients were coming in for medical attention.

“In the critically ill area, which [holds] four beds, I know that two days ago three patients were in there. In the COVID ward, they have 25 patients out of the 29 beds. I know some were to be discharged and others were in the accident and emergency unit (A&E) waiting to be transferred over,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday. “What we will have to do, which will impact the public in general, is that we will have to scale down some of the non-COVID operations. So elective surgeries, for example, we may have to scale down those.”

There is space available that can be converted to provide another 18 beds, he said, but that process has not yet begun as it would impact other services provided by the hospital. “Infrastructure is in place but when the surge comes, we will have to look at doing the final conversion for that area,” he said. “But that is going to mean that we are taking away beds from what we would use for our normal operations.”

Dr Harvey stressed that while the hospital positions itself to handle the expected spike, the behaviour of the general public will determine the level of strain that the facility experiences.

“In terms of preparedness, we are trying to put ourselves in a position to deal with the pandemic. The problem is, we don’t know the number of persons who will seek our services and that will depend on how the public responds to the protocols,” he said.

And even as it grapples with its own challenges, the CRH is lending a helping hand to other COVID-burdened public hospitals in the western region.

“We have limited space, but we are hoping to work with our partners in the region because Cornwall [Regional Hospital] might have more expertise in terms of their medical staff. So we will partner with our regional colleagues,” Dr Harvey said.

The Observer reported on Thursday that the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover and the Savanna-la-Mar Public Hospital in Westmoreland are buckling under pressure from the current spike in cases. Noel Holmes can accommodate 11 individuals in its COVID ward but between 15 and 16 are currently being admitted. Up to Tuesday, there were 14 extra patients in the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital’s 18-bed COVID-19 ward.