The burdensome cost of treating COVID-19

If the tidal wave of COVID-19 cases and deaths being reported on the nightly news in the last few weeks does not scare you, then the emotional, financial and physical costs associated with treating the virus just may.

Add to that the recent shortage of medical oxygen that saw the Ministry of Health and the sole local producer scrambling to get hospitals restocked with the life-sustaining gas.

Not to mention the daily horror stories being shared on social media by doctors and nurses, of patients, even the very young, dying much more rapidly from what they describe as the effects of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.

All in all, COVID-19 is taking a very high financial, mental and physical toll on persons, and 26-year-old Rejeen Morrison can testify to that.

She has lived to tell the tale of not only her fight to survive COVID-19 but the financial strain it has put on her family and friends, too.

The Kingston resident said she needed “close to $500,000” to pay for medication and other items such as clothes and food during her 19-day stay at The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in March after she contracted the virus.

“Had I not had family and friends, I don’t know how I would have pulled through. Not everyone has family and friends who can pull together like this,” Morrison shared with The Gleaner.

Since the country was hit with the third surge of the virus in July, Jamaica’s public hospitals have been bursting at the seams from the increasing caseload, most now operating over capacity and having to implement makeshift systems to deal with the public-health crisis.

Up to Friday, Jamaica recorded over 70,000 COVID-19 cases and over 1,500 deaths. With 19,927 active cases, hospitalisation is now at 724, of which 117 persons are severely ill; 50 critically ill; and 200 moderately ill.

While the financial cost is far more burdensome to treat COVID-19 patients privately, for those seeking public healthcare, there is likely a high emotional cost, as hospitals overflow with patients and staff and resources are stretched thin.

“A lot of people are opting for care at home. Firstly, the hospitals are overcrowded. Secondly, they feel they would get worse at the hospital than if they stayed home and they probably have some practitioners looking after them if they stay home, which is another cost,” noted Dr Hamlet Nation, public-health consultant and programme director at Jamaica School for Public Health.

“Patients have to supplement some stuff for their care in public hospitals, but if you’re being treated at home, you will have to pay for all you need.”

ADDED PROBLEMS

For Morrison, her underlying health conditions also impacted the costs, treatment and the length of her stay in the hospital. She has several comorbidities, including trigeminal neuralgia and steroid-induced diabetes and hypertension, among others.

“My mom, partner, stepdad and friends collectively spent around $230,000 while I was admitted on the COVID ward. Now, if you have that readily on hand to spend on drugs, that’s lovely but bear in mind there are no beds and the situation is way more dire than it was in March-April,” she posted on Twitter of her ordeal.

The sum was actually $270,000, she clarified while speaking with The Gleaner.

Overall, “It would be like $450,000 for everything by the time I came off the ward. I know I paid $77,830 for 15 days’ worth of one medication and that was with [health] insurance,” she shared.

“One was an IV medication for $100,000. Luckily, I only needed one dose, because that would have turned into $200,000. I developed a fungal infection in my mouth from that medication because it burned me, so I needed multiple other medications, including cough syrups and injections.”

There was also an issue sourcing some of the medications because of the number of patients requiring them “so we had to buy them from other hospital pharmacies”.

Morrison stated, “I had to be on the COVID ward calling the pharmacies to find out if they had them, asking them to hold them and sending family members to get them.”

Because of her long stay on the UHWI ward, Morrison also had issues with getting her clothes laundered. Despite being given biohazard bags to treat her clothing before they were cleaned, her mother opted to have the hospital burn them for fear of exposing the other members of the family.

“I had to be getting new clothes and underwear all the time because she was fearful,” she said.

“In addition to me being on the ward, I needed other things like Ensure, water and orange juice,” she said, noting that her friend contributed $80,000 towards those dietary needs and clothes.

The long-term physical cost is something else the COVID-19 survivor is grappling with, as she is still suffering from side effects.

“Right now, I am short of breath. I cannot go from point A to point B without wheezing, and I have to do physiotherapy for my lungs. Laying down and sitting up in bed is also a challenge, even after five months,” Morrison said.

Another Clarendon-based family member of a COVID-19 survivor, who wished not to be named, said her family was asked by the mother of the 20-year-old female patient to help raise funds for her care while she was being treated at UHWI.

“Her mother said she needed $20,000 to pay for a ventilator; $25,000 for one set of medication; $60,000 for the room; and another $250,000 for another medication, but I was not in a position to help at all. Thankfully, though, she is now out of hospital and recovering at home,” she told The Gleaner.

‘PEOPLE BUYING OXYGEN LIKE CRAZY’

President of the Jamaica Association of Pharmacy Owners (JAPO) and owner of Three Angels Pharmacy in Mandeville, Rohan McNellie, is constantly bombarded with desperate phone calls from family members trying to source medications for COVID-19 patients.

One prescription dated July 23, 2021 for a portable oxygen tank; portable oxygen regulator; nebulizing mask; nasal oxygen cannula and humidifier cup cost one customer $95,410.10

Another August 11, 2021 prescription for the medication tocilizumab – an anti-inflammatory drug adopted for use in the treatment of COVID-19 patients who are moderately to critically ill – saw that person paying $226,185.00.

Sourcing oxygen for patients who want to be managed at home has also been a tricky situation with the recent shortage.

“Like now people buying oxygen like crazy. When you have to find $80,000 to $100,000 to buy oxygen that may only last the night, it can be quite a telling situation,” McNellie said.

The list of medications for COVID-19 patients can get very long, depending on the patient’s response and the severity of the illness, one Clarendon-based doctor who did not wish to be named said.

“Patients are also given multivitamins. Dexamethasone, which is a steroid, is also used. Plus, patients are kept on heparin because COVID causes clots which can travel to other parts of the body, so we use heparin to keep the blood thin,” the doctor said.

“They also get azithromycin, an antibiotic which covers a lot of the atypical conditions. If we suspect there may be a bacterial infection along with the COVID, then they may be given an antibiotic to cover any superimposed bacterial infection. These are supplied by the hospital pharmacy and I haven’t heard of any shortage of these.”

tameka.gordon@gleanerjm.com