Is Brampton’s hospital prepared to handle the uptick in COVID-19 cases amid the City’s health care crisis?
Published October 23, 2020 at 4:24 pm
From incidents relating to “hallway health care” and Brampton’s healthcare system still in need of additional funding, the City’s health care status has left residents feeling overlooked and now, more than ever, concerned amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in November 2019, Andrea Horwath, NDP leader of Ontario’s Official Opposition, revealed that Brampton’s Peel Memorial Urgent Care Centre is operating at a 587% volume compared to what it is funded for.
This statement indicates that for every patient the centre is funded to care for, almost five other patients are looking for care. In other words, it means that the centre is operating at 585% above what it is funded for.
Additionally, in a recent interview with Khaled Iwamura from inbrampton.com, Federal NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh stated that he thinks Premier Doug Ford has done a ‘horrible job’ handling the health care crisis in Brampton.
“Brampton specifically, has been ignored by the liberal and conservative governments for the past two decades,” said Singh in the interview, pointing out that the city of 600,000 people only has one hospital.
In August, Mayor Patrick Brown told Iwamura in an interview that the City of Brampton has “designated land” for a potential third hospital.
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“I think multiple governments over the years have let Brampton down and so where we are today, is the government spends $1,900 on average per resident of Ontario and it’s only $900 in Brampton,” said Brown in the interview.
“I’ve explained this to Doug Ford. I’ve said, ‘I know you didn’t inherit this mess, but now it’s your responsibility to fix it,’ and Brampton needs Phase 2 of Peel Memorial completed.”
Brown went on to emphasize the need for a new hospital but explained that in order to start that process, Brampton needs to catch up on the provincial average of beds.
“We have half the beds that are the provincial average, we’re underfunded on mental health as well,” said Brown.
So what does this mean for Brampton amid the COVID-19 pandemic?
At a conference on October 22, Brown confirmed that the number of COVID-19 cases have increased and stated that a total of 19 patients are currently being treated at Brampton Civic, with four of those patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“Our healthcare capacity still stands pretty strong, but there has been an uptick in recent weeks, so we need to be mindful of that and I think it’s one of the reasons that there’s been some more recent restrictions,” said Brown at the conference.
In an interview with Iwamura on October 23, Brown once again confirmed that there has been a “slight uptick” in cases.
“We’re seeing a slight uptick in the numbers today,” said Brown, adding that a few days ago the numbers were 100.
“It seems to be averaging about 150 and so that’s creating a little bit more stress on our hospital systems, but not beyond what they can handle.”
“As it stands right now, we’re okay. We’ve been able to maintain contact tracing, which is critical,” said Brown.
“Toronto and Ottawa have not been able to maintain contact tracing, so I think we’re still in a relatively good position in Peel Region.”
On October 22, Dr. Lawrence Loh further emphasized the importance of shrinking social bubbles and reminded the public to stay home as much as possible as viral activity in Brampton and Peel remains “consistent and high.”
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