BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
OXYGEN remains critical towards clinical management of COVID-19 patients, especially those that are severely sick, according to Dr Culwick Togamana, Minister for Health and Medical Services.
Togamana said so far, they have deployed oxygen concentrators to the provinces 10 to Malaita, 12 to Western province and five to the Good Samaritan hospital.
He said this is based on the availability and type of electricity that provincial area health centres have, and where more of the concentrators will be deployed.
Togamana adds that based on the ministry’s internal assessment of stockpile, medicine stocks at the moment can cater for the demand for up to six months.
He adds with the support from the technical advice and the guidance gaps that have been identified are now addressed in terms of procurement of specialist drugs.
Togamana in terms of clinical management of Covid-19 patients’, said clinical workers are working closely with partners and relevant expertise to deal with covid-19 patients who have underlying health conditions as the country continues to note an increase in death amongst covid-19 positive patients with underlying conditions and those who are unvaccinated.
He said basically this will involve how best and safe to manage patients with covid-19 but also at the same time treat their underlying health conditions.
