The Government of Guyana continues to build the capacity of the health sector, with a number of significant investments, the latest is the acquisition of an oxygen plant, which is currently being installed at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Liliendaal. This will allow Guyana to produce its own oxygen to supply patients requiring intensive care.
The plant which was donated by Sewa International arrived in Guyana last week. This was disclosed by Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony M.P., during Thursday’s COVID-19 update.
“So that container with the oxygen plant arrived last week and we are right now in the process of offloading and doing installation of the oxygen plant so that we’ll be able to generate our own oxygen,” Dr. Anthony said.
During the height of the pandemic, the government was required to purchase oxygen cylinders to adequately supply patients at the hospital.
Dr. Anthony noted that it has been costly and as such the independent source of oxygen will substantially decrease the level of expense placed on the ministry.
To date, 20 persons are currently hospitalised, with 10 patients at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. The minister noted that the hospital has a “large capacity” to treat patients if the need arises.
Dr. Anthony stated further, that regional hospitals are also prepared to deal with COVID-19 patients that require hospitalisation.
“We have a lot of capacity in terms of treatment of patients not only at the Infectious Diseases Hospital but in every region, each one of the regional hospitals we’ve established a number of beds to treat COVID, so we have a very large capacity in terms of treatment of patients.”
The Liliendaal hospital is equipped with 198 beds for COVID-19 patients, 52 of these are set aside for ICU patients.
The health minister explained that the relevant equipment to go with these beds are fully functional.
Additionally, last year, oxygen pipes were installed throughout the facility, as well as other services to boost the operations of the hospital and ensure patients receive better care.