Zazeannah Walker 
Three satellites sites should be up and running soon in order to assist the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in its daily operations.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr The Most Honourable Kenneth George, disclosed this during a COVID-19 Update, held at Ilaro Court on Saturday.
The Chief Medical Officer stated that the country’s main hospital operations had been impacted at several levels, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and surge in cases, and the Ministry would be implementing key strategies, including the rolling out of three satellite sites, to assist the institution.
“We have put some key strategies in place with respect to making sure first that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is given some space to do what it needs to do. What I mean by that is that we are actively going to be rolling out one, to as high as three satellite sites. These satellite sites are not going to be school-based satellite sites; these satellite sites are intended to provide care and support for individuals who are either ill or moderately ill,” Dr. George said.
The Chief Medical Officer said these satellite sites “were strategically chosen” and one would be located in Belleville, St. Michael; the second one would be in St. Philip, and the other in the north of the island.
He explained: “The areas were carefully selected based on their ability to manage patients. Our teams did recces to make sure that the outlay etc. of those places are up to a minimum standard, and once the logistics have been completed, this can be actioned as early as next week. This is a good method, as I indicated, to give the Queen Elizabeth Hospital a buffer.…”
Dr. George also reminded the public of the surge plan to tackle Omicron cases, which includes an assessment coding system for patients – red, yellow and green. He said code red patients go to Harrison’s Point, or Sunbay Hotel; code yellow patients are assessed by Dr. Adana Grandison and the home isolation team, and code green patients do self-isolation, that is, persons are expected to remain at their “premises without leaving their homes for the designated period of isolation”.
The Chief Medical Officer urged persons in home isolation to fully cooperate with health authorities.
“We can manage this type of system, but we need the full cooperation of the public…. When you’re in isolation, you are deemed to be infectious, and therefore, it is highly important that you remain in your homes, at your locations and stay put…. “I am absolutely sure we can get through this together. I have said before that there are some responsibilities on the Ministry of Health side, but really the responsibility to get through this pandemic is to make sure that the public does the tried and tested arrangements that we have indicated … on several occasions,” he emphasised.
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