49 recovering Covid-19 patients moved to private hospitals, other hospitals on standby to receive more
Over the past three days, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) transferred 29 patients to Mount Elizabeth Hospital via dedicated ambulances.
SINGAPORE — Forty-nine Covid-19 patients who were assessed to be well and stable have been transferred to private hospitals, to free up capacity in public hospitals to handle more severe cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday (March 23).
Over the past three days, the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) transferred 20 patients to Concord International Hospital, and 29 patients to Mount Elizabeth Hospital via dedicated ambulances, the ministry added.
MOH described these patients to be “generally well”. They will remain at these private hospitals until they have fully recovered from Covid-19 and have tested negative for the disease for two consecutive tests over a 24-hour period, the ministry said.
The patients would be admitted into Ward 5E, which is “self-contained in terms of its air conditioning”, Mount Elizabeth Hospital’s chief executive officer Stephens Lo said on Monday in an internal memo which TODAY has seen.
“We have prepared for this and our protocols are in place to ensure the patient and all our healthcare workers’ safety,” Mr Lo said.
These recovering patients will remain in their rooms for the duration of their stay and “only require minimal monitoring”. They will also be placed under round-the-clock security, Mr Lo said.
MOH has taken this measure to expand hospital and clinical services capacities as part of its emergency response plan, with the number of cases in Singapore expected to rise.
Dr Noel Yeo, senior vice president of hospital operations at Parkway Pantai, which Mount Elizabeth Hospital is under, told TODAY that its other three hospitals – Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth Novena and Parkway East Hospitals – have also been put on alert to receive more recovering Covid-19 patients in the future.
“Prior to this, we have already been actively managing Covid-19 patients in several of our facilities,” said Dr Yeo.
He added that the new patients will not be permitted to leave the ward and visitors are strictly not allowed.
All staff working in these areas are also required to put on all appropriate protective apparel and the areas that these patients pass through during the transfer will also go through proper cleaning and sanitisation.
MOH said that prior to the transfer, experts from the public healthcare sector, including infectious diseases physicians from NCID, worked closely with the private hospitals to assess if their infrastructure and resources are suitable to manage Covid-19 cases.
These experts also worked with the private hospitals to develop clinical and swabbing protocols, proper segregation and infection control measures as well as discharge criteria.
TODAY reached out to several private hospitals in Singapore, and both Farrer Park Hospital and Thomson Medical said that they have not been approached by MOH to take in Covid-19 patients.
