Health Minister – Major improvements at Infectious Diseases Hospital

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said a host of infrastructural improvements have been made to the Infectious Diseases Hospital facility at Liliendaal, to provide quality care to persons, two years after the Health Ministry admitted its first patient.

Dr Anthony speaking during Thursday’s COVID-19 update, noted that the facility has come a long way since 2020.

“Persons will recall that there was no electricity to the building, no water supply. It wasn’t connecting to any sewage. Nothing was working. In addition to that, the place was not ready for patients,” Minister Anthony noted.

He continued, “We had to re-do many of the rooms. Some of the corridors had manholes in them so we had to fix those. So, there were lots of infrastructural things that had to be done to make sure that the place was ready.”

The minister disclosed that a 52-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) had to be constructed to facilitate critically ill patients.  He noted that over time, the ministry was able to install pipe oxygen to the facility and a new triage area, to allow persons admitted to the facility to be screened there.

Dr. Anthony revealed that a dialysis system was also integrated at the institution to accommodate persons in need of treatment.

“There are patients that would come in that would have renal failure, and we needed to dialyse them. So, we have put in a dialysis system there. In addition to that we have an operating theatre at. So, persons who are Covid positive and would need urgent surgical operation, we can operate [on them]. Within the last two years there have been lots of improvements, and a lot of other services that we are beginning to add to the facility, so basically you are able to get full service at the Infectious Diseases Hospital,” he disclosed.

Minister Anthony added that the COVID hospital, as it is popularly called, had an initial estimated cost of $1.6B dollars.