Catholic hospital to perform COVID-19 testing, retreat centre used for patients

GUYANA 

The St Joseph Mercy Hospital is responding to the needs necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic by partnering with the Diocese of Georgetown to have the St Paul’s Retreat Centre serve as a medical annex.

The retreat centre, which is owned by the Diocese, has been rapidly converted into a medical facility with the capacity to provide COVID-19 testing as well as to isolate and treat positive COVID-19 cases. At present, the centre has 31 fully air-conditioned rooms, but that can be expanded to over 50, according to a Catholic Standard article.

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The government was said to be very co-operative in getting the project going. The medical team that runs the centre comes from St Joseph Mercy Hospital. The hospital, which was established by the Mercy Sisters in 1945, is believed to be the only private health institution that has moved in this direction.

Recently, the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), which is headed by the Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, gave permission for private medical facilities to do testing for COVID-19. Previously, all testing was done at the National Reference Laboratory and hospitalisation of positive COVID-19 cases was only at government facilities.