May Pen Hospital SMO urges caution as it braces for Omicron surge

Senior medical officer (SMO) of the May Pen Hospital, Dr Bradley Edwards, while assuring that the hospital is prepared for a surge in the coronavirus spread as a result of the new Omicron strain that has been confirmed in the island, is also warning citizens of the parish to exercise caution and to continue to be vigilant.

Pointing out that the hospital has gone through almost two years of the pandemic, he said it has given the medical facility ample time to prepare for more variants to come.

“So we have our wards prepared. We have our isolation ward; we have our processing ward, which is our cough centre, that is near; and, in addition, soon to come on stream, is our field hospital, with the capacity to accommodate at least 40 more people. So we are even more ready than we were before for this stage of the virus,” he outlined.

Disaster risk management

Edwards also had words for those who continue to defy the disaster risk management protocols by hosting parties, reminding them that the country is still in the middle of a pandemic and that although the numbers are going down, the new variant could prove problematic.

But even as Edwards issued the warning, 32 persons were arrested and charged on Christmas morning for breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act in May Pen.

“With the new variant coming out, and seeing the increased numbers in places like London and New York, those are places that people tend to come to Jamaica frequently for holidays; and when they come, they come to party. The chances are, the new variant will be at the party. The new variants spreads quickly; they say it spreads almost three times as fast as the original variant,” the senior medical officer warned, as he noted that it is still not certain how the variant will affect persons physically.

Consequently, he emphasised that exercising precaution is key with mask-wearing, social distancing and staying away from gatherings. Revealing that he had been afflicted with COVID prior to the vaccine coming out and had to be hospitalised for 17 days, almost dying in the process, he advocated for preventive measures in protecting against the virus.

Rising COVID cases is not the only challenge the hospital is facing. Edwards reported that during the festive season, there is a tendency for people to leave their loved ones at the hospital to go to parties.

“Now, that is a problem. Our bed capacity at the May Pen Hospital is 170 and even before the people started coming in, we are up to 192 to 200 people. When you leave your loved ones and you go away and we can’t find you, we have a problem,” he stressed. The SMO urged persons to look after their loved ones by ensuring that they are given their medications to keep their non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, under control.