APPROXIMATELY 918 people are being treated for covid19. This number includes 749 patients in the parallel health care system, established to deal with covid19, and 169 in the accident and emergency (A&E) departments in the regional health authorities (RHAs).
Many of them are unvaccinated and enter the system when they are severely ill.
Principal Medical Officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards made these statements during the virtual health news conference on Wednesday.
"This is the actual highest number of patients in the parallel health care system," Abdool-Richards said of the figure of 749.
The previous highest number, 726, was reached between November 27 and 28.
"We have noticed over the last two to three weeks that the number of net admissions in the parallel health care system continues to increase. We look at net admissions because it indicates the additional strain on hospitals in the parallel health care system," she explained.
Net admission is the result of the total new admissions of patients subtracted from the total number of patients discharged.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 543 people in the hospitals in the parallel health care system. There are 206 patients in the system's step-down facilities.
She said, "This is the highest number of patients in the parallel health care system since October 19, 2021, when we started noticing that upward trend."
Reiterating there is covid19 delta variant community spread, she added, "So we have noticed that persons being admitted into hospital are entering in a more clinically severe medical condition, and so they spend longer in hospital."
All of this continues to place an increasing strain on the system.
"The net number of admissions over the last five days into the parallel health care system has been 112, versus 153 for the seven days previously."
Abdool-Richards said this suggested a trend of consistent increase in hospital admissions over the previous figure of 153 by the end of this reporting week.
The parallel health care system now comprises 16 facilities spread between Trinidad and Tobago. Abdool-Richards said the 16th and most recent facility is a 26-bed step-down quarantine facility opened in Lowlands, Tobago on December 14. There are currently 14 patients there.
In preparation for the arrival of the delta variant, she continued, capacity was increased in the A&E departments in the RHAs to cope with increasing demands for covid19 patient care.
She said, "Our A&Es continue to be inundated with a large number of critically and severely ill patients on a daily basis. As of 7 am this morning, there were 169 persons across four A&E departments in Trinidad receiving medical care."
Out of this number, 32 are intensive care unit (ICU)-level patients.
Many of these patients are arriving at the A&E department too late. and so their clinical status is deemed unstable, Abdool-Richards said, so in keeping with the minis
