The Tribune

Doctors Hospital's president said the healthcare provider plans to increase its in-patient bed numbers to more than 100 by the end of 2021.

Dr Charles Diggiss said COVID-19 has forced the health system to continue increasing capacity to meet demand. “Pre-COVID-19, our complement of in-patient care beds was 72 at our main facility, Doctors Hospital East (DHE)," he explained.

"We realised that 72 beds were functional, but our capacity was realistically about 55. We were full at 55 in-patients. But because of COVID-19 protocols, we had to allocate only one person per room which resulted in our being near full at 40 beds.

“Two additional facilities deserve mention," he added. "One is Doctors Hospital West, where we are committed to COVID-19 care. That facility started off with the ability to accommodate 15 to 18 patients. And now we're in a ramp-up to about 33 patient single rooms on December 1, 2020.

"Doctors Hospital Harbourside (DHH), on East Bay Street, which we acquired some three years ago, is intended to be a long-term care facility and will, by the end of 2021, bring us an additional 40 single rooms - 20 rooms in phase one. So that would take our health system in-patient bed complement up to over 100 beds by the end of 2021."

Dr Diggiss said that in partnership with the Government, Doctors Hospital moved COVID-19 related care into a separate facility at Doctors Hospital West on Blake Road and established a drive through testing facility at the Town Centre Mall.

“Early on in our response to this pandemic, we realized that the country, both the public and private sector, had limited resources," he added. "If there was one time that it was prudent for us and the other private sector entities to reach out to the Government, it was then.

"We accepted the Government’s request for a severe cases dedicated treatment facility and, fortunately, that relationship has really taken on a life of its own. That proved to be a very useful move, which helped both our main facility as well as the public facilities to preserve space for the treatment of non-COVID 19 problems.”

Doctors Hospital has also partnered with several corporate entities to establish a specialist clinic and primary care service at Centerville Medical Centre, as well as an urgent care clinic and drive through COVID-19 testing at Albany.

The healthcare provider is also providing remote COVID-19 testing services at Baha Mar and drive-through testing at Atlantis in advance of those properties reopening in December 2020.

“Public education becomes really important because we only have so many beds that we can put bodies in. And it is important for the public to understand that there is so much that you can do at home,” Mr Diggiss said.

With an imminent ramp up in COVID-19 cases expected between December 2020 and February 2021, Dr Diggiss advised that if COVID-19-like symptoms arise it is possible to go to a Doctors Hospital drive through (Blake Road or Town Centre Mall) and get tested.

“But if you are either minimally symptomatic or it's just like a cold or flu, which otherwise you would have managed at home, then we are encouraging you to continue to do that,” Dr Diggiss, adding that vaccination will be a “vexed issue”.

“There’s a possibility that by the middle of 2021 a vaccine will be available commercially and ‘in’ countries like ours. And I think this is enough time for public education, starting in the fall of 2020, to prepare the public as best we can so that by the time the vaccine becomes available then we would get the optimum acceptance of vaccination,” he explained.