Construction starts on 60-bed field hospital for UHWI

Christopher Serju, Senior Gleaner Writer

Construction of a 60-bed field hospital on the grounds of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in St Andrew commenced on Friday.

A staff parking lot adjacent to the hospital's accident and emergency ward is being used as the site for the facility.

The floor plan will allow for up to 27 tents to be housed on the grounds.

The field hospital came in response to a call for assistance from the hospital to the private sector, which was spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer of RJRGLEANER Communications Group, Gary Allen, and his Chief Operating Officer, Christopher Barnes.

Allen, who was on hand to watch workmen begin laying out the floor plan for the first 13 tents, for which he had already received financial commitments, explained the concept.

“It is not building another hospital. It is building another section which meets hospital standards, to connect to what is in place,” he told The Gleaner after getting a briefing from Lynden Williams, the UHWI's chief technical director of engineering and maintenance.

Allen received the call from the UHWI last weekend and was able to reach out to his contacts who sourced 20 hard tents which are suited for the field hospital.

Since then, he has been reaching out to the private sector for support in purchasing more tents.

Dr Carl Bruce, the chief medical officer at the UHWI, had explained that given the urgency of the situation, a permanent building would not be practical, given the cost and time it would take to construct.

“So we want to see if we could get any donations and have been talking to some people and the COO and myself got involved and we took a list and said let's talk about what is possible and there are these hard wall tents, which I think they have used them at Cornwall (Regional Hospital), and we identified from Duane Marzouca and they actually have 20 of those tents in the island that they can assemble,” explained Allen.

The placement of the field hospital between the accident and emergency ward and hallway in which COVID-19 patients are being accommodated is strategic, said the hospital's CEO Kevin Allen.

“So the COVID patients are right there and what we will do is to make sure the area is sterile. So it's one way in and one way out and we placed it close to the emergency area. So just in case any of our patients get into trouble, the emergency doctors, nurses, the entire team would be there to offer assistance. It will put some of our staff at a disadvantage in terms of parking but we are looking at the greater good.

“We are trying our best to see how we can improve the physical infrastructure just to ensure that the patients' safety is paramount and also the staff that provide the care. Their safety is also paramount so we sit down and we plan this thing properly and we want to execute it as efficiently as possible. We want to be efficient, we want to be quick and we are grateful for the assistance that Mr Allen and the private sector have given us at this time and we are working assiduously with the team of private contractors to make it happen.”

Senior Director of Operations at the UHWI, Fitzgerald Mitchell, explained that the field hospital will be constructed using a modular concept, with room for up to 27 tents. 

The UHWI CEO disclosed that the estimate for the 27 tents came in at just under $35 million, so the hospital still has about 14 more tents to be sponsored.

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