EyeWitness News Business April 25, 2020 at 5:30 am Natario McKenzie
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Despite the demand for COVID-19 related services, Doctors Hospital has seen a 55 percent decline in business activity amid pandemic its chief financial officer revealed yesterday. Dennis Deveaux told the Rotary Club of Old Fort yesterday that the BISX-listed health care provider was down from a daily p
atient average of 45 to just 20 as of this week. He noted this was primarily due to the suspension of elective procedures. Still, Deveaux noted that due to the company’s strong balance sheet, it has been able to fully guarantee 40 hours of pay per week for every full-time associate, regardless of hospital activity. The hospital employs over 530 people with a payroll exceeding $3 million per month, he said. Deveaux, a former KPM
G executive addressed Doctors Hospital’s COVID-19 response during a broader presentation on “COVID-19’s micro-economic impact”. “Despite the fact that there is a demand for services related to COVID-19 we have seen our business over the last twenty days especially dramatically decline,” he said. “A huge driver of daily patient stay is surgical procedures, a lot of which is elective. In a crisis situation you are going to immediately shut down your hospital for elective procedures. We saw our census fall from 45 per day down to about 20 as of the early part of this week.”
Deveaux noted that part of the hospital’s management philosophy was to ensure the economic security as well as health and safety of its employees. “We’re not deep enough in our view with balance sheet strength to take dramatic actions especially actions that affect the lives of our people,” said Deveaux. Deveaux noted that health care providers benefit from strong trade receivables mainly with insurance companies. “Our commitment must be not only to the health and safety of our workers but also to their economic security because if folks are concerned in a heath care environment about their jobs, we think that introduces distractions and ultimately introduces risk. We also focused on mental health. As a part of our response we have engaged mental health professionals to talk to our associates,” said Deveaux. Deveaux noted that many of the hospital’s back office functions were now being done remotely and pointed out that the COVID crisis has shifted the focus of many businesses from simply time management to ensuring that employees simply carry out their assigned tasks and provide service to the customer.
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