Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jacqueline Bisasor-McKenzie, says the recent uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations is having a negative impact on other hospital functions.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Jamaica have been steadily increasing, at a time of the year when the CMO says general occupancy is also high.

According to Bisasor-McKenzie, given the increase in hospitalization, particularly on the western-end of the island, namely the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, some surgeries have had to be delayed.

“In terms of the daily bed occupancy, this is coming from in the region of 200 just maybe about a week or two weeks ago. And then yesterday we touched 400. So we are definitely seeing an increase in the number, in terms of bed occupancy in the hospitals. And we’re seeing this, not just in terms of the COVID occupancy but we are at the time of the year where the general occupancy goes up as well,” said Bisasor- McKenzie.

“We’re seeing a tremendous pressure on the western side of the island. Savanna-la-Mar Hospital came under extreme pressure, where it is that they had several critically ill patients. We had to stop surgeries for a little while because the beds were occupied that had ventilators attached to them. So it is definitely showing that there is an increase in the number of cases and we have an increase in the number of persons that are mechanically ventilated. And we are also seen an increase in the number of persons that are on high flow nasal oxygen,” added Bisasor-McKenzie.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, there are currently 272 persons hospitalized with the coronavirus in Jamaica.