The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) says that persons seeking repatriation during the COVID-19 lockdown are welcome to stay at any of its quarantine facilities for free or pay to stay at hotels designated to provide such services.
Some 300 persons are expected to be repatriated in the coming days.
“The Ministry of Public Health will give consideration to persons who may wish to spend their time at a private facility rather than a public quarantine facility and has designated two private places for this purpose – Baracara Hotel and Brandsville Apart-ments,” a notice from the Ministry stated.
“All persons being repatriated to Guyana are required to undergo at least 14 days of quarantine. Please indicate where would you like to be quarantined,” the notice states as it listed options – MoPH’s facility which is free and Baracara and Brandsville hotels with their respective fees.
It is unclear how the two facilities were chosen by the Ministry and if expressions of interest were sought from other hotel owners on providing similar services.
Persons indicating choice of a private facility must substantiate this claim with proof of reservation and payments made.
It is unclear where the Baracara Hotel is located but the costs are $8000 per night for rooms on its 2nd and 3rd floors while $5000 per night is the charge for the ground floor. All rooms, according to government, are equipped with a small refrigerator and two beds. Patients would have to also pay for all meals with breakfast being $800 and lunch and dinner $1000.
At Brandsville, located in Pike Street, Campbell-ville, the cost per room is $15,000 per night and if two persons want to stay in the same room, there would be an additional $5,500 per night fee. Meals are grouped into a package where the quarantined persons would have to pay $5,500 per day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The current options for repatriation were criticized by citizens wanting to come home but who feel that the free government facilities are not up to basic standards and those which require payment are too exorbitant for the average person.
“I have been stranded on a cruise ship for nearly three months and really would like to come home but if it is to this, I won’t come… don’t think anybody wants to come to this.
“We have waited for three months for the task force to come with good measures to come home but when I look at the systems it is poor and just unreasonable,” Celebrity Cruises employee Kinnia Edmondson told the Stabroek News via phone yesterday.
“These are your options, the … Diamond facility where nobody wants to be quarantined or booking a hotel for an exorbitant sum. It’s an average of over $210,000 for just the room for one person. That is just insensitive. How in the name of heavens do they expect people to afford those monies? When I saw the statement they released I was really, really hurt because I was looking forward to come home,” she added.
Edmondson said that it pains her that on the vessel where she works with persons from over 17 other nations, that her country has the worst measures in place for repatriation.
“I see all the nationalities’ governments working and getting them home when my government is doing nothing really and it is embarrassing and frustrating,” she said.
Her position was echoed by another service industry worker, Keys Gilbert, “We are Guyanese nationals, I have worked with 52 different nationalities from around the world and after this global pandemic situation began the priority was to get everyone home. Governments accepted their people because they understand the importance and safety of having them home, the importance of being with families and friends, right to a healthy environment (article 149 j of the constitution) read it when you have the time. So we being concerned about our quarantine conditions is not a crime,” he said.
Edmondson thanked her company for supporting its staff during the current period as she explained that they are given all meals and all services free until they leave for their respective countries.
She said that while “home is home and it is where everyone yearns to go” she won’t be trading her current situation for a stay at the Diamond or any other government facility because of the “scary” reports about them.
Shocking
Shocking video of doctors kicking down the door of a room of a COVID-19 patient at the Isolation Unit at the Diamond Hospital was made public on Saturday, with patients at the institution expressing frustration that despite concerns frequently being raised, the authorities continue to pay little heed.
Stabroek News was told that the patient, who had been there for over two weeks, was retested that same day and objected to a new patient who had just arrived at Diamond after being tested positive for COVID-19, being placed in the same room. He consequently barricaded the room and refused to let anyone in. Subsequently, the doctors attempted to kick open the door but were unsuccessful.
“People, particularly those who have been here for several weeks, are afraid of cross-contamination. The doctors warn us of this. The risk is that persons with a high viral load can cause virus levels in a person who has a low viral load to rise once there is contamination and recovery will take longer. There are many people here who test negative one day and positive a few days later,” one patient explained.
The video shows two doctors attempting to kick down the door. Subsequently, several patients intervened and went to the barricaded door. At that point, one doctor noticed that another patient was filming and grabbed the phone. Stabroek News was told that the phone was damaged in the process and there was a brief scuffle and the patient was ordered to delete the video.
After the ruckus, the new patient was eventually placed with others who had arrived the previous day.
This newspaper has tried several times to contact both Dr Y Benjamin who is in charge of the Diamond facility and Regional Health Officer of Region 4 Dr Quincy Jones to no avail.
Jones had replied to a Stabroek News’ article on the conditions at the facility, saying that at Diamond they are handling the majority of COVID-19 patients. Stabroek News understands that though the majority of the COVID-19 patients are housed at Diamond, it is the Georgetown Public Hospital that receives most of the supplies.
The patients last week had expressed hope that with the recent video incident authorities would move swiftly to investigate and bring relief to an already unbearable situation for the sick.
It seems that their pleadings about fear of recontamination were heard on Saturday with the transfer of some of the patients to the Ocean View facility. Just under a dozen patients who received their first negative COVID-19 test results on Saturday were transferred from the Isolation Unit of the Diamond Hospital to the former Ocean View Hotel where construction of a sanatorium has been partially completed.
They will soon be retested. Patients are required to have two successive negative tests before being allowed to return to their homes.
