200-300 beds COVID-19 field hospital to open next week

The Ministry of Health is all set to launch the first phase of COVID-19 field hospital by September-end in cooperation with the private sector.

The field hospital at old Muscat airport premises is equipped with all necessary COVID-19 treatment facilities amid rising positive cases and deaths, according Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health, during the Supreme Committee media briefing last week.

The field hospital will help to ease pressure on hospitals so that they continue to provide services to non-COVID patients. The facility is likely to have a capacity of 200 to 300 beds. It will treat patients who do not require intensive care.

The hospital building plan has been assigned to an engineering company, while a medical team is currently working on completing the proposed project.
The building is ideal as it has easy exit and entry, via the bridge opposite the building. It is also better suited to receive the patients even from other governorates.

Dr. Qasim bin Ahmed al Salmi, Director-General of the Royal Hospital, earlier said that the goal of the hospital was also to accommodate COVID-19 patients from outside the Muscat Governorate, mainly those who could not be admitted by the hospitals in other governorates.

“Equipping such field hospitals is not an easy process. It needs time. It is not just a bed, a doctor and a nurse. Rather it includes the entire chain of providing health services starting from treatment, providing medicines, sterilisation materials, to bigger things like assistive devices such as ventilators,” he mentioned.

According to the statistics issued by the Ministry of Health on Sunday, 1,722 new COVID-19 infections in the last three days pushed the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Sultanate to 93,475.

In the last three days 28 patients died taking the death toll to 846. The number of recovered stood at 85,418 while 64 patients hospitalised in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of those admitted to health institutions to 554, while the total number of those in intensive care is 172.

The rise comes amid fears of a second, fiercer wave after several countries in the world also witnessed a surge of new cases and deaths.

The Ministry of Health has urged citizens and residents to follow social distancing, wear masks, use sanitisers, and stay at home if they have any symptoms of the COVID-19. The Supreme Committee also continues to urge public and private institutions that employees at workplace should not exceed 70 per cent, to conduct temperature checks, provide spacing between employees, as well as ensure adherence to wearing masks and provide sanitisers.

His Excellency the Chairman of the Supreme Committee in charge of researching the mechanism of dealing with the Covid-19 virus, and the members of their Excellencies visit the field hospital for Covid 19 patients to see the hospital’s readiness.

This article originally appeared in https://www.omanobserver.om/covid-19-field-hospital-to-open-next-week/