By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville has lamented the country’s rising COVID-19 death toll, saying local health experts believe it is the result of people seeking medical intervention too late in their illness when help is less likely to yield results.

He also said the government is looking at procuring additional drugs that are currently unavailable in the country to treat people sick with COVID-19.

More than 640 people have died from COVID-19, with 12 new deaths recorded on October 21. The deaths occurred between September 23 and October 14. A 16-year-old boy was among the victims.

Dr Darville is expected to give full details of the health situation tomorrow when he delivers his first speech as health minister in the House of Assembly.

He said with deaths increasing on an almost daily basis and new virus cases seemingly on the decline, the ministry is concerned.

“We’re definitely looking at that. We are very concerned about our death rate and we believe that is directly related to individuals who are COVID positive presenting at our tertiary healthcare facilities at the advanced stages of COVID pneumonia.

“We know that once the body begins to have those low oxygen counts, we start to see areas where there is always the possibility that the lungs itself can now begin to be clogged with mucus plugs and fluid and the transference of oxygen normally could be compromised. “When you put persons on high flow oxygen, they do get some response, but one of the things we’re noticing is that individuals, particularly with this Delta variant, are at home and very ill but because they are stationary, they really don’t know how ill they are.

“They begin to (get) decompensated and have great difficulty breathing. They call the emergency medical facilities and they present to the hospital with advanced stages of the disease and COVID is one of those slippery slopes.

“If you are one of those individuals who are on that slope and the medical emergency team executes medical protocols to save you, there is going to be some individuals who are not going to make it, unfortunately. That is the danger with this variant and it’s not something new to The Bahamas. It’s reflective of COVID throughout the world.

“We’ve seen it in the developed countries. We’ve seen it in India. We’ve seen it all over and our job now is to ensure through public education the importance to respond very quickly when you’re diagnosed with COVID and you are at home in isolation and you start to develop symptoms.

“We have to find a better way to interface the public medical community with those individuals. We have a plan on how we intend to do that because early detection and early treatment is paramount in order for survival with COVID-19.”

On the issue of getting additional drug therapies in the country to fight the disease, he said: “The public healthcare system is now discussing the procurement process for these drugs that will be a very, very important tool and once instituted at the appropriate time I think we’ll have better medical outcomes and see a reduction in the cases of death as a result of COVID.”

He also revealed that free COVID-19 testing will begin in Eleuthera this week as officials zero in on several areas of concern on the island.

Dr Darville told The Tribune if all goes well, beginning tomorrow residents in Harbour Island, Upper and Lower Bogue and other areas of North Eleuthera will be able to take advantage of the free tests.

This comes as health officials last week wrapped up the same initiative in Inagua. While officials have not yet completed the full compilation of test numbers in Inagua, Dr Darville said they were pleased with the turnout.

“If you look at the dashboard you will see that we do have some areas of concern in North Eleuthera and some in the Berry Islands. So, if all goes well on Wednesday, we will be doing free testing in Harbour Island, Upper and Lower Bogue and some other areas of North Eleuthera.

“Similarly with the distribution of masks I have additional police officers there who are policing because we got word that there may have been some breakdowns in the public health protocols and so surveillance is very important, particularly when you have clusters on the Family Islands where there are limited healthcare facilities.

“So, we will be going into North Eleuthera this week to do a similar pilot that we did in Inagua.

“We will definitely be doing a similar thing in North Eleuthera as it relates to the Ministry of Health partnering with the private sector to assist us with the testing and the distribution of free medical grade masks, which is very important to our protective agenda because that in itself is one of our greatest tools particularly when people are interacting in our community.”