Former COVID facility gears up for T20 World Cup – QEH

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is preparing for a potential surge in patients during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup starting here on Sunday, by repurposing the former coronavirus isolation centre at Harrison’s Point, St Lucy, as a satellite medical facility.

In a televised statement on Friday, Paula Agbowu, the QEH’s director of engineering, announced that the facility at Harrison’s Point that was quickly converted to treat COVID-19 patients four years ago would act as a secondary medical care centre for the month of June.

“If there is an influx of infectious cases or a mass casualty incident, the hospital is ready to accept those patients,” she said.

The preparations come as Barbados, along with other host nations in the West Indies and the United States, gets ready to welcome thousands of cricket fans for the global marquee tournament taking place through to June 29.

Harrison’s Point, which served as the main isolation centre during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been retrofitted with equipment to cater to patient needs, the senior hospital official said.

One section, Primary A, has the capacity to accommodate nearly 40 infected visitors, while another building has been outfitted to house between 90 and 110 patients, depending on staff availability.

“Our plan is to have our most acute and sickest patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and to decant the hospital and have our lesser acuity patients here at Harrison’s Point,” Agbowu explained, citing the availability of intensive care units, operating theatres, and other critical services at the QEH.

To further bolster its capacity, Ward 3 has been outfitted with an additional eight beds.

The 564-bed QEH, the island’s lone general hospital, nears its 60th anniversary as the island’s main healthcare centre.

“The hospital stands ready,” Agbowu said. “We are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”

Mass gathering events like the Cricket World Cup can potentially increase the risk of infectious disease transmission and injuries requiring medical care.

In April 2022, Prime Minister Mottley announced plans to convert the sprawling 80-acre Harrison’s Point into a medical tourism facility once it was no longer needed for COVID-19 patients. “What must be done is a strategic partnership either with other local or international private sector players to maintain Harrison’s Point as a site for medical tourism as we go forward, even as we get out of the management of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she told the House of Assembly at the time.

“It is necessary, and I have given the Minister of Health the remit that he must find investment along with Invest Barbados for Harrison’s Point. We are only using a fraction of the land at Harrison’s Point.”

The recommissioning of Harrison’s Point as a medical centre is the latest development in the northwestern location’s storied career, the home of the youngest of the island’s four lighthouses was built in 1925.

The area roared back to life in 1957 as part of the United States Naval Facility (NAVFAC), the southernmost link in an Atlantic network tracking Soviet submarines during the Cold War.

After being vacated by the US Navy in 1979, the site was turned over to the government which put the area to various uses after long intervals of abandonment. In 2005, was a temporary prison after Glendairy Prison was burnt down by rioting inmates. It also served as a youth rehabilitation centre of the Barbados Youth Service (now the YouthAdvance Corps).

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb