Director of Medical Services at the QEH, Dr. Clyde Cave
Barbadians are being called upon to visit the Queen Elizabeth Hospital only in dire cases of emergency or when absolutely necessary.
The Executive Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland issued the call just yesterday, after members of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) had to be called in to keep order, after numerous persons turned up to access the health care institution, leading to long queues and a breach of the social distancing requirements, in keeping with COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
“The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been impacted by crowds of persons seeking to gain entry into the hospital and so, we have sought to implement very strict social distancing within the hospital. There were a number of people that were extremely compliant with the requirements, and we did have a very long queue of persons seeking to get into the facility and in compliance with guidelines. However, there were a few persons who were congregating extremely close and we had to call for the assistance of the Royal Barbados Police, to maintain order,” Bynoe-Sutherland commented.
She meanwhile stated, “We want to impress upon the public, the understanding that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is not an agency that is going to close. We are going to be able to maintain our clinics, both in-patient and out-patient. We want to give the reassurance, although we have a few cases at the hospital, we have a plan in place that has been anticipating this second wave and we are really prepared and adequately resourced, in term of levels of PPE (personal protective equipment) and we really need the cooperation of the public, to only come to the hospital to visit when it is absolutely required and to come in an orderly manner to access the clinic, so we don’t by virtue of having people enter the hospital, create unnecessary potential super spreader situations”.
Director of Medical Services at the QEH, Dr. Clyde Cave also lent his voice to the call for persons to only come to the QEH in cases of dire emergencies.
“Obviously, if it’s an emergency with bleeding or the onset of labour or major trauma, then you’d call an ambulance or make your own way to the hospital. Those are still happening that way and the Accident and Emergency is ready for those kinds of real, dire emergencies. It’s the ones where there are less urgent to the medical people, but urgent to the patients, that are becoming a problem,” he stated.
“Right now today, because the polyclinics are on urgencies and emergencies, I am getting a report from Accident and Emergency that a lot of people with minor complaints are showing up and I think that’s the judgement every individual has to make, is your complaint really worth taking the risk of being out in public with people who you don’t know, under crowded conditions, whether that is on the bus or waiting in line somewhere. I think if you use that kind of (analysis), a lot of people who have come here would not have chosen to come here,” he maintained.