Everything is being done to track all COVID-19 related deaths in Barbados.
That assurance has come from Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Infectious Disease Specialist and Head of Isolation Facilities, Dr Corey Forde and Senior Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Dr Anton Best.
There have been 23 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on the island.
Responding to whether checks are made to determine whether persons who die at home could have died from the respiratory virus, Dr Best confirmed that this was on the ministry’s radar.
He said once health authorities suspected a deceased person could have been exposed to COVID-19 the necessary tests were done.
“We have had instances of people dying suspiciously in their homes so in addition to doing the autopsy what we have done if we strongly suspected that COVID-19 was possible we actually did do a test post-mortem. In those cases, we found that persons were negative.
“So just to make sure that we’re not missing any deaths in Barbados due to COVID-19 we investigate and we also do a COVID test if we have reason to believe that there was a possible COVID exposure,” Dr Best said.
Dr Forde, the country’s infection prevention and control expert, said health authorities were not leaving anything to chance.
“Generally unless there is a reason why we might believe that someone who may have died at home either was in a household where someone is actually positive or had been in contact with someone positive or had symptoms, we look at the whole situation…we have done that in some cases,” he said.
“If there is a reason to do that then we will proceed to do that. We look at the history, the contact for example, those sorts of things would allow us to make those sorts of decisions.”
The Prime Minister also made it clear that there was no attempt by Government to hide anything.
She maintained authorities were being honest with Barbadians.
“A person who dies at home has to have an autopsy done unless they are under a doctor’s care. Usually, in a hospital environment the doctor would be able to say what they suffered from, but once a person dies at home our legal system kicks in.
“I’m saying that because I don’t want anybody talking about any fake news or any conspiracy to be able to keep numbers down with people dying at home. Barbados doesn’t work that way.” Mottley contended.
(RB)
