Even with the former government having spent over one billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to transform the flood-prone Ocean View Hotel into a Covid-19 facility, more funds are needed to ensure the facility is operational.
This was announced by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, during his presentation of the 2020 budget.
In giving an example of how under-equipped the Ocean View facility is, Edghill noted that it does not even have sewage systems. He noted that a hospital without sewage systems is no hospital.
To this end, the government has set aside a further $700M to operationalise the hospital.
In addition, $1.8B has been allocated to purchase Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for government workers.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony had described the facility as a “total disaster” upon his assumption to office.
The flood-prone former Ocean View International Hotel, located at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, was rehabilitated into an Infectious Diseases Hospital by the previous APNU/AFC Coalition to facilitate the immediate need to treat COVID-19 patients and, ultimately, other infectious diseases.
