GLOBAL CONCERN OVER the Ebola virus has proved a plus for Barbados.
To satisfy world health requirements, this country will soon have an isolation centre retrofitted to international standards to accommodate anyone who contracts that virus or any other disease where patients need to be quarantined under strict conditions.
It is estimated to cost several thousand dollars and will be the first of its kind in the Eastern Caribbean.
This move ensures that no one suspected of any highly contagious disease would have to be accommodated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the island’s lone tertiary care facility.
The interior of the building identified for the isolation centre is now being retrofitted to ensure the airflow is correct to avoid recontamination of sterile areas, while nurses, doctors and ancillary staff are being recruited for the facility, if and when their services are needed.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George confirmed yesterday the ministry had been seeking volunteers to work in the unit, pointing out it was better to have a team confident in themselves and trained to practice the right techniques.
