As there continues to be a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the parallel healthcare system, health officials under strain are once again pleading with people to get fully vaccinated and reduce their chance of needing to be warded in the ICU if they get covid19.

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds led the plea during Monday’s covid19 briefing, saying 50 of the 52 covid19 patients currently warded in ICU are not fully vaccinated.

While Hinds said the Ministry of Health has recently increased the number of ICU beds to 58, he warned that continuing to increase the number of beds is not the solution.

The increase in beds comes less than a week after Principal Medical Officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said 51 of the then available 52 covid19 ICU beds were occupied during a covid19 briefing on October 27.

Hinds lamented, “The statement that my colleague Dr Richards always makes is that it’s not just a matter of a physical bed, or space to lie down, but it’s all the resources that would need to be amplified in order to have additional ICU capacity.”

The Ministry of Health’s data show that people who are not fully vaccinated accounted for 93.7 per cent (4,493 of 4,794) of the patients entering the parallel healthcare system between July 22 and October 13.

In a passionate plea for people to be fully vaccinated, Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility ICU nurse Josette Smith-Bethel said nurses “are going to be scarred” as she described the emotional toll of the pandemic.

Smith-Bethel explained, “Unless you are actually in there, you could never imagine what goes on in the ICU.

“A day in the ICU is physically and emotionally exhausting, We are just going. We are not able to eat, we are not able to drink or even use the bathroom.

“The patients in my care vary in ages – some are children, young, middle-aged, elderly – and are very critical. They require high levels of oxygen via face masks or mechanical ventilation."

Given a patient’s health can deteriorate in a short period without warning, Smith-Bethel said health practitioners are often left to make life-or-death choices for patients on behalf of their loved ones.

“It’s hard as nurses, because we are the ones with ensuring that we do what is required to keep their relatives alive.

“We sometimes even ensure that relatives receive a phone call or video call because the harsh reality is, it may very well be their last.”

She recalled the sudden death of a young man in ICU who was in her care.

“I could recall working with a 26-year-old male.

“He said, 'Nursey, I could video call meh relatives?'

"I said, 'Sure you can, how else would they see you, as it’s the only form of communication you all have right now?'

“He replied, 'Thank you, nursey, you are doing a good job, keep it up.'

“On that day I left him receiving oxygen therapy via mask, alternating with what we can non-invasive CPAP…He was doing well, he was one patient that I was certa