While the government believes that opening the NTTC building on Lady Nugent avenue which is fitted with 75 beds is the practical way to go amid the continued rise in COVID-19 cases, a medical doctor is expressing concern over staffing.
Head of Medicine at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, Dr Jason Belizaire who was a guest on the Browne and Browne show said health care workers are exhausted and the system is overwhelmed.
According to Dr Belizaire, the only way out of the crisis that we’re in is vaccination.
“The hospital is near capacity. We have a large number of people on ventilators enough. I know the situation at the hospital and the ICD. I hear them talking about opening up a new hospital, I want to know where are we getting the people to open the new hospital. In the hospital I work at there is a lot of people who are not showing up for work or have COVID fatigue.”
“The nurses and doctors are under strain. We are tired, we have been doing this for the last eighteen months at varying levels. It is getting harder and harder and I do not know at what point we make a decision that we have to do more. I do not see this relenting and I am not seeing any changes. If we continue to remain unvaccinated those possibilities remain high that we will never achieve herd immunity and that everybody over a period of years will end up getting COVID, Doctor Belizaire added.