Business View Caribbean | May 2021

40 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN MAY 2021 staff how to cope. I’m sure everyone who was going through this experienced a certain amount of fear, trepidation, fatigue, uncertainty of their job security, etc. We also provided some training programs, so that as we come out of this, staff would be better trained and better qualified, in terms of being able to assist the hospital in moving forward.” Although revenue increased slightly in August and September of 2020, the recovery was short lived. Ali recounts, “This had to do with the patient inflow into the hospital. The reason for that was really because of the pandemic. Patients were skeptical about coming to a hospital facility, even though we had put in place very early on all the screening protocols that the W.H.O. made very public, because we were following W.H.O. guidelines. We had screening set up before you entered the hospital, in the hospital itself, and with members of staff.” As the hospital adapted to the changing situation brought by COVID, the need to add in-house laboratory services and PCR testing became obvious. Prior to the pandemic, those services were usually outsourced to some labs throughout the country. But COVID brought it to the forefront and St. Augustine Private Hospital saw the need to actually purchase that technology. According to Dr. Ali, “We see that now as a way forward because there is so much more in PCR aside from COVID testing. In addition to that, we’ve taken the opportunity to modernize some other equipment. Initially, there was a scarcity of medical apparatus like sterilizers. Towards the last quarter of 2020, we learned that there was a surplus of machines like ventilators and different sorts of sterilizers that could be bought for less than before. Being in touch with different parts of the world, we realized we could capitalize on that, so that as we get out of the pandemic, we would have new equipment – modernized and updated.” The hospital is currently offering drive-through