Local Doctor Says ‘Pay Attention to Hospital Capacity’

Jamaica’s not done a poor job of managing the COVID-19 pandemic so far. That’s the word from one local health expert who is now urging the government to pay more attention to increasing capacity at hospitals in light of the likely fourth wave. 

The expert says with Omicron now in the country, it’s highly likely the country’s case numbers will again soar. The COVID-19 pandemic brought sudden challenges to Jamaica’s public health sector from bed shortages to deaths and three strains of the virus emerging.

On Monday, our news team spoke with Dr. Alfred Dawes who says the handling of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021; Jamaica has not done a bad job altogether.

Dr. Dawes says 2020 was mostly focused on preventing the spread of the virus, he notes more emphasis should be placed on treating the virus. He adds of all the variants that have surfaced, the delta variant has been the most deadly and has had the worst impact on patients due to a lack of oxygen.

According to Dr. Dawes, the omicron variant is expected to arrive in Jamaica during the 4th wave, a spike in cases is expected. In the meantime, he says Jamaica needs to brush up on hospital capacity.