Tree Top Hospital TTH says it has no plans to charge any fees for its services as the country’s designated Covid-19 treatment facility.
Earlier this week the hospital had said that it had entered an agreement with the government of Maldives represented by the National Disaster Management Agency NDMA.
TTH said that on 30th April NDMA notified TTH that effective from Sunday, TTH would provide treatment only to COVID19 patients referred from IGMH, and so can no longer serve the general public.
Answering the questions asked by ‘The Press’ via email, TTH said that the purpose of the agreement is to clearly define the responsibilities of both parties for the operation of TTH as a Covid19 facility.
It said that Government through NDMA is arranging the resources and utility costs will be on account of NDMA from the date of conversion to the duration of the agreement.
TTH highlighted the work it had done to prepare for the current situation. It said that TTH has been extensively working together with the Government Task Force and NDMA to prepare for this eventuality these past two months.
TTH said that it had prepared the SOPs to ensure staff safety, patient care and collaborative trainings have been undertaken alongside drills to test the SOPs.
It also noted that Structural changes have been brought to the hospital to secure pathways within the hospital to separate contaminated flow and decontaminated clean flow with signages for guidance in all areas of the hospital.
TTH assured that the structural floor plan of the hospital facilitates the functioning of dialysis services to continue in isolation from the designated COVID movement areas.
It highlighted that TTH staff have been trained as required alongside other healthcare providers to be utilized when needed.
The hospital said its operational plan would be implemented in 4 phases. TTH explained that in the 1st phase 15 ICU beds, 30 general beds and existing TTH staff would be utilized. While TTH is anticipating capacity build-up with additional resources supported by the government, phase 2 of the operation would see 30 ICU beds and 60 general beds.
TTH said that phase 3 would contain 60 ICU beds and 60 general beds while phase 4 would cater for 100 ICU beds and 40 general beds on need basis. It said that the maximum bed capacity is 160 beds.
Tree Top Hospital also said that the government has secured the resources for the initial phase and that TTH is working with the government to source all required supplies as needed
