GPHC enforcing safety measures for staff, patients against COVID-19

The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) has stepped up the use of protective equipment and is disinfecting more than usual in an effort to protect health workers and patients from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID19).

Guyana has now recorded eight confirmed cases of COVID-19 including one death. The GPH is the country’s main medical institution, including for COVID-19, and it has implemented strict protocols to ensure the safety of its workers and patients.

The hospital has set up a nurse’s station close to the entrance and they ensure that all persons entering the hospital’s compound sanitise with alcohol-based hand sanitisers before proceeding on their business. Additionally, those nurses have to wear face masks and gloves to prevent any potential transmission between them and any person who may be infected.

One of the nurses, who asked to remain anonymous, told Sunday Stabroek that these precautionary steps have to be adhered to by all doctors and nurses. The nurse said that since the first confirmation of COVID-19 in the country, the hospital has provided staff with the necessary equipment needed to stop the spread and/or contraction of the disease. She said that nurses are required to use face masks and gloves when attending patients and after every use, the items are to be disposed of.

“Yes, we are using face masks and gloves and after we treat a patient, we throw away the glove and face mask,” she said.

Regarding how long the GPH’s supply of masks and gloves will last, she said that she doesn’t believe that the hospital would run out anytime soon. She said that unlike at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where nurses refused to enter the hospital on Friday to show their displeasure at the lack of protective equipment and disinfectants, the GPH has put measures in place to keep the staff safe.

Disinfecting and cleaning of the hospital, she assured, is one of the safeguards being implemented. The nurse said that the hospital has been disinfecting more than usual since the confirmation of the first COVID19 case in Guyana.

“I’m not sure how many times a day the hospital is disinfected but we’ve been doing it and it’s more than usual,” she disclosed. The nurse added that a reduction in persons entering the hospital’s compound is also a measure being implemented to keep people safe.

When Sunday Stabroek visited the hospital yesterday morning, far less than the normal amount of persons were waiting at the Emergency Unit. Social distancing measures were being enforced as unlike on days prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, persons were not clustered together but waited a short distance away from each other. Confirming that social distancing was being practiced, the nurse said that persons are being allowed in the hospital’s compound but they are not allowed to crowd in one area.

Nurses and doctors were seen wearing their protective equipment in the halls and while treating their patients.