Jamaica Prepared To Handle Coronavirus

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says the country is in a state of readiness for the coronavirus.

Following a tour of isolation facilities and equipment at the National Chest Hospital and the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) on Thursday (January 30), Dr. Tufton said that the country has what is necessary to guard against the infectious disease, both at the hospital level and at the ports of entry.

“I’m very comfortable that we have the personnel and we have the infrastructure… to scan, to monitor and to deal with the threat that the coronavirus is presenting now for the world. There are always margins of error; of course these things will always include some risk, but… I saw [the facilities] for myself today and I’m satisfied,” Dr. Tufton said.

The two-room isolation unit at the National Chest Hospital was originally designed to manage two cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Dr. Tufton said that while every hospital has an isolation area, the Chest Hospital remains the specialist institution to deal with respiratory ailments.

Meanwhile at NMIA, the Minister got first-hand experience with the thermal and handheld fever scanners being used at the airports.

He also toured the NMIA’s isolation unit consisting of a total of six beds in three rooms.