Health City to do drive-thru COVID-19 tests

| 29/04/2020 | 29 Comments
Cayman News Service
Health City Cayman Islands (HCCI)

(CNS): Health City Cayman Islands, which is already part of the response team to take patients who become seriously ill with COVID-19 if the country experienced a surge in cases, will also play a key role in the ramped up testing programme. Speaking to CNS via Zoom, officials explained that the hospital will soon be doing drive-thru screen-testing.

The hospital is well positioned to help with the screening of front-line and essential workers who live or work in East End as part of the testing process that is now underway. Widespread testing will allow Cayman to measure the prevalence of the virus in the community.

Dr Archita Joshi-Bhatt, HCCI’s consultant in pulmonology, and Dr Dhruva Kumar Krishnan, the hospital’s senior consultant in cardiac anesthesiology and intensive care, explained that HCCI will be taking samples and conducting the first stage of the intensive laboratory work. They will then send the samples to the Health Services Authority (HSA) and CTMH Doctors Hospital in George Town for the remaining work that must be done before the samples are placed in the PCR machines for a result. Dr Joshi-Bhatt said this will help speed up the testing process as the numbers increase during this screening phase.

With the specialist equipment and an experienced team of lab technicians, HCCI will be able to reduce the workload for the hospitals in George Town as the HSA boosts testing to help the Cayman Islands Government shape the next phase of the pandemic management strategy. The doctors added that part of the testing process is very time consuming but with the equipment they have at Health City, they can help speed up the delivery of results.

It is anticipated that because of the measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 that the testing will show that the virus is not widespread in the community and we are therefore unlikely to see a surge. Nevertheless, Dr Joshi-Bhatt warned that we should not be too quick to count our blessings because we don’t know what can happen with this virus.

If there is a surge in new positive patients or existing ones become sick, Health City has divided its facility and become two hospitals in one, Chief Cardiac Surgeon Dr Binoy Chattuparambil explained. He said that eleven ICU beds and a separate ward have been established as a ‘hospital within a hospital’ with its own staff, from housekeepers to physicians, to take care of patients who have COVID-19.

Right now the only positive patients at Health City are those who were admitted because of other health problems and were screened as part of that admission. But the hospital will be ready to treat an increase in patients suffering as a result of the virus if the HSA becomes full.

Currently, the Cayman Islands hospital is coping well with patients who have needed hospital care. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were five patients in the two hospitals and none of them required ventilation. Because of the low numbers, the George Town hospital is not under pressure.

But there are another 33 positive people now who have symptoms, the Ministry of Health’s Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee said Tuesday, and while they are currently battling the virus at home with support from public health workers, if their condition deteriorates they will be admitted. Given the diversity of symptoms and the often reported rapid deterioration of patients with COVD-19, the risk of a surge remains.

But the doctors at HCCI said they are ready to take patients who are critically ill and have a significant amount of sophisticated treatment options for a positive outcome.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (29)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I lost my father Sunday. He lived in the States. He was an engineer, a person who believed in science. He abided by everything r.e. the stay at home orders. He was 82, and had underlying health issues. This virus is deadly. I do not think any government’s interventions would have been sufficient to spare his life. It is a sad truth that many of our elderly will parish. I do not have an answer. But I know he would not want his grandchildren to suffer. This is a terrible disease. But we all need to look through gasses of Logic.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, everyone that dies these days with underlying conditions is classified COVID. The numbers are being manipulated to generate fear.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Sorry for your loss.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Who would thumb down that? The poster will NOT be able to go to the US to bury their father. They will not be able to be at a funeral. They won’t be able to comfort their other family members in the same room. What a heartless ass you are.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    No thanks.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    People, do NOT allow anything to go into your body. Just spit in a pot and let them get on with it.
    Anything else is dishonest and criminal.
    Do NOT allow anyone to put unknown things into your body.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Can Dr. Lee say if the swabs are plastic stemmed? If so, plenty of activists shouldn’t be getting tested.

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      • Anonymous says:

        What a very enlightened statement. I would assume that you are a fellow activist?

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        • Anonymous says:

          I got a 10 year supply of plastic q-tips. You stick that cardboard crap in your ears if you want.

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      • Anonymous says:

        So you will go to extreme measures to save yourself from a virus but you won’t adapt simple measures to save the earth for future generations? How much of a selfish prick are you?

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    • Anonymous says:

      The virus hides in the back of your throat. Hence the need for the deep nose swabs. If you dont understand something, please do some more research. Science is not up for a debate. If you disagree, feel free to write a paper and get it peer reviewed.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Science is not up for debate. Correct. Whose version of this fake science are you subscribing to?
        I have never heard such bullshit. The virus hides in the back of your throat?
        PLEASE. Think about what you have just said. This is utter bullshit and no science can corroborate this fact.
        How gullible are you? Review your own lies and get your own invasive “test” and leave the rest of us alone.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I inhale thyme essential oil via special glass inhaler (patented in Germany) that disperses it in sub-atomical particles which cover the back of my throat and more. If anything tries to hide in the back of my throat, thyme oil kills it. I also use neti pot for nasal irrigation. I do it every time I get home after being in public places. Sanitize my upper respiratory track so to speak.

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        • Anonymous says:

          5:48 Are you also an anti-vaxxer? Essential oils aren’t going to protect you from S#%t.. There is no scientific evidence that they help. Not from a credible source that is.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Yes, I am an anti- vaxxer.

            My entire family including myself is the evidence. Half of my family work in hospitals. Some with C19 patients.

            If you know nothing about essential oils chemistry, don’t offer your opinion. There’s plenty of scientific credible evidence. I can post references 5 pages long.

            Here is the link to 20,951 articles on publmed.gov site.
            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=essential+oils

            Be well.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Just one out of the thousands studies. But you need to understand basic chemistry first.

            Correlation between chemical composition and antimicrobial properties of essential oils against most common food pathogens and spoilers: In-vitro efficacy and predictive modelling.

            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32344178

            “Thyme (Aldrich, Novotaste), cinnamon (Aliksir, BSA), garlic (Novotaste), Mexican garlic blend N & A (Novotaste), and oregano (BSA) were the strongest antimicrobial. The most sensitive pathogens were P. solitum (MIC of 19.53 ppm) and L. monocytogenes (MIC of 39 ppm). The correlation analysis showed that phenols and aldehydes had the strongest positive effects on the antimicrobial properties followed by the sulfur containing compounds and the esters; while the effects of monoterpenes and ketones were negative. ”

        • Anonymous says:

          Sub-atomic particles? Maybe you ought to ease up on the vaping of these quarks you appear to spewing quackery

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  4. Anonymous says:

    No comments here. See, everyone has lost interest due to the failings of our represetatives. They reap what they sow.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Do not trust Health City, sorry.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Can we get a vindaloo same time?

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