There is a concern that patients passing away from Covid-19 at the hospital may have taken too long to arrive for advanced care – perhaps due to fear.
During a recent post-cabinet briefing, Dr Tyhiesia Donald, (Ag) Director of Medical Services stated, “A lot of our cases that are coming in and passing away within 24–48 hours, they were ill at home for at least 1 to 2 weeks. So, we just want to appeal to you to seek care.” This suggests the public may be unaware of what severe symptoms look like.
Due to this comment, Central Health-Grenada sought to get 2 questions answered:
- At what point is at-home care not enough?
- What symptoms, signs, or indications would indicate a person is entering a stage of distress?
Dr L N Amechi, Managing Director and Resident Physician of St Augustine Medical Services (SAMS), provided answers to those questions and more during another instalment of Covid-19 & Those Most at Risk.
Within the interview, the medical doctor unpacked the range of severe symptoms a person should not endure at home. He also candidly stated that there is an irrational fear associated with going to the hospital and thus encourages the public to look at the recovery numbers, ”There are many people who have been admitted, who are being discharged. Look at the figures. There are a lot more people who are surviving and coming home than are dying. And the people who get there early, are ones who stand a better chance of walking out of hospital.”
Central Health-Grenada is a grassroots initiative. Its purpose is to educate nationals about chronic non-communicable diseases. As Covid-19 has devastating effects on persons with pre-existing conditions, Central Health-Grenada felt it important to highlight its impact on those most at risk.
We live in the real world where not many families have such creature comforts and it may important to point out that a lit of these families live in overcrowded homes.
Now god forbid that one member of such family was tested positive (and it will happen) What are the chances of them following any of the advice given,when they don’t have anywhere to self isolate,no means of getting any help and they can’t afford to be away for 14 days .
We have to face reality and understand why there is such a high positive rate with the locals
These concerns are valid, there should be more help for disadvantaged folks. It also highlights why vulnerable and disadvantaged people suffer the most from this pandemic, both health-wise and economically. It’s not right nor is it fair. Most people suffering from severe illness and dying are unvaccinated, so the best thing for disadvantaged families to do is to get vaccinated. This way if isolation is impossible the entire family has the best chance of staying healthy and staying alive if infected. The vaccines fight the virus when the body is unable to. If they choose not to get vaccinated when it is available, then unfortunately they deal with whatever consequences come with that choice.
”There are many people who have been admitted, who are being discharged. Look at the figures. There are a lot more people who are surviving and coming home than are dying.”
I appreciate the hopefulness of this comment, but I’m curious as to what figures the doctor is referring to. Per the official dashboard, there have been 151 hospitalisations and 75 deaths. That’s a 50:50 split on surviving.
We don’t know how many people are dying at home vs. dying at the hospital, but my assumption is that most are at the hospital at this point.
I’d be curious if this is something related to SAMS specifically vs. the General Hospital?
some died (how many exactly I don’t know) outside of the hospital so not 50:50
Very important information, thank you
