While some concerns have been raised about the declaration of the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility as a dengue early detection centre, most reactions have been positive.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh made the announcement at a media conference at the ministry’s head office on Tuesday.

Head of the TT Nursing Association Idi Stuart said the association’s main concern was with staffing, as it has received several reports of understaffing in various facilities across the country.

Deyalsingh said in response to questions from Newsday that there were enough staff to fulfil the new need.

Stuart said it was obvious the move would have a negative effect on staffing. He called on the minister to provide data showing there were enough nursing, medical and support staff to service the new unit.

"There’s a shortage of nursing staff across the country on our books. We have already started receiving complaints from nursing personnel in the SWRHA, which is where they’re pulling majority of the staff from, that they are further shorting the wards in San Fernando General Hospital to go to work in the Pt Fortin Hospital to manage additional cases up there. That’s a complaint we’re currently addressing and with this new and additional pull on the limited resources, it will further exacerbate the problem.

"Our data shows there’s a shortage of over 500 nursing personnel as we speak. Any people moved from the hospital setting would obviously create a shortage in the area you’re pulling from and it would not be enough to run a proper ward in these areas. It comes down to that we don’t have a mandatory patient-to-staff ratio where our health institutions are mandated to follow."

He said the reason the ministry was able to open the Couva Hospital facility during the covid19 period was because there were a number of nursing personnel who were waiting to be hired.

"Now there isn’t that vast amount of nursing personnel like during that period who we can now pull on. Couva Hospital was being slowly being decanted as we moved away from covid19, so people had already been transferred to other places. Those initially sent there from Southwest had returned to Southwest, those who came from the Arima Hospital have gone back to several facilities run by the NCRHA. So they were closing out until this dengue epidemic reared its head and is beginning to pull staff, particularly from Southwest to operate that facility. There’s no regional health authority (RHA) in TT that is operating to an acceptable level of nursing personnel to patients as we speak."

NCRHA CEO Davlin Thomas said the hospital was using existing staff to care for the patients.

"We were providing services at Couva, like radiology services and a number of novelty clinics like transition clinics for paediatrics to adult diabetes, which is run by an endocrinologist, Dr Ragbir. We have a cardiac rehabilitation clinic that takes place there. We did over 4,000 X-rays in the last 12 months. Couva is currently providing relief services to other hospitals thr