Did the government really prepare for the third COVID wave?

Damion Mitchell/Integration Editor

It was the only question allowed to the media at the prime minister's COVID-19 press briefing on Wednesday evening: Exactly how did the Government prepare for the third wave of the virus in Jamaica?

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, staring into the camera, held firmly to the lectern, rocked his weight from one leg to the other, then attempted to respond.

First up, he said the bed count dedicated to COVID patients moved from around 650 during the second peak to approximately 725.

WATCH: How the gov't prepared for COVID surge

But that was pretty much the figure announced by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton in May this year, two months before the onset of the third wave of COVID.

Tufton, in making his contribution to the sectoral debate, said Jamaica had 723 hospital beds for coronavirus patients.

That figure included the field hospitals in Falmouth, Trelawny, and the St Joseph's Hospital in Kingston.

Two other field hospitals were to have been erected in the past weeks but on Wednesday Holness said the projects had been delayed by the recent rainy weather.

Continuing, the prime minister turned to the issue of oxygen supply.

He said the government was in discussions with Trinidad and Tobago to supply medical-grade oxygen as Jamaica's sole manufacturer, IGL, has not been able to meet the local demand.

The Prime Minister did not say when the discussions started or whether a deal was imminent.

"The question about planning for the spike and planning for the supply is a very tricky one because even in countries where they have plants with massive capacities and more resources than us... even those rich countries and rich states have these challenges."

Sighing mid-sentence, the prime minister related how other suppliers had to use resources that would have come to Jamaica to satisfy their local demand.

Jamaica on the weekend faced a huge oxygen crisis with some hospitals very low and others entirely out of the life-saving gas.

The situation triggered intense scrutiny of the government's planning for the third wave of the virus with the highly transmissible Delta variant.

"I think there is a movement to blame and argue and quarrel. That is important because we need to get at the root cause of problems, but I am saying that in the midst of a pandemic, what is important is that everyone that is involved, works very hard," Holness cautioned.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister said the government needs to find other suppliers even while it is working on securing oxygen concentrators which can help in easing the demand for people requiring mild flow oxygen.

The Prime Minister said around 80 concentrators have been identified which will augment others to be imported by the Health Ministry.

"We're activated and I'm not saying that the system is perfect, but for those who would want to present a fatalistic view, that is absolutely not the case," he charged.

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