Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 29, 2021 (SKNIS): As St. Kitts and Nevis continues to deal with the third wave of COVID-19 and as hospitalization increases due to the dreaded virus, the Medical Chief of Staff at the Joseph Nathaniel France (JNF) General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson, said that there are no immediate plans to reopen the private ward for general use.
“Just a few days ago we were almost at full capacity with 12 persons admitted to the isolation ward. Currently, as of today [September 28], we have a total of eight persons who are admitted, three are critical on the ventilator and so there is no plan immediately to reopen the private ward for private patients,” said Dr. Wilkinson while responding to a question at the Prime Minister’s Monthly Press Conference held on September 28 at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Conference Room. “We are still in the middle of a pandemic and we are still going through the third wave of COVID-19 in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Dr. Wilkinson said it is extremely important for the Federation to get through the third wave and the COVID-19 Pandemic in general.
“We need to get through this wave and get through this Pandemic before we can even think about the return to normalcy. But the way we will get there is by people coming forward and getting vaccinated because the more people who get vaccinated is the less likely between you getting infected which might be inevitable and severe disease requiring hospitalization,” said the Medical Chief of Staff. “So, I urge everyone to go forward and get vaccinated.”
In 2020, the private ward at the JNF General Hospital had been transformed to accommodate any COVID-19 patients who fall seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. The Mary Charles Hospital and Pogson Medical Centre are also in a state of readiness as well as the various health centres around the island.
