MINISTER of Health Dr. Frank Anthony says that the ineffective response by the former government to the COVID-19 pandemic in Guyana has led to the current situation in the country.
The newly appointed minister uttered these comments during an interview on the televised programme, ‘Government in Focus.’
Since being sworn in last Wednesday, Anthony has already met with several key personnel to craft a more effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The response to the pandemic is being revamped from several positions, the minister disclosed.

He noted that the previous government’s response was more political, which led to it being unsuccessful. Their response, he pointed out, also lacked the technical know-how at the leadership level, which hampered the structure from making an impact.

“When we came in, with a quick assessment we found that the task force was highly political. If you are managing a pandemic what you need is political will and leadership, but you must have the technical people to lead the process,” he underscored.

Further, he stated that while there was a National COVID-19 Secretariat which was operational, it was not necessarily addressing the onset of COVID-19 because it was politicised.
“You had a secretariat – a very extensive structure, but upon review, we realised that some of the people employed in the secretariat were not people needed for the fight against this disease; meaning that they do not have the technical know-how and so forth.”

For these reasons, upon being sworn into office President Ali instructed that a new structure be created. The new policy-coordinating committee for COVID-19 has already met; Prime Minister, (ret’d) Brigadier Mark Phillips is chairing that committee.

Those on the committee are Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony; United Nations Coordinator, Mikiko Tanaka, as well as representatives from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); the Private Sector Commission (PSC); the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), and former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy.

“In terms of the UN Representative [and] the UN’s reach, it is a massive organisation and they have been able to develop lots of best practices from other parts of the world. We are hoping to get some of those and apply it to our context. They are also involved in harnessing resources, so that can be essential to aid our national efforts,” Minister Anthony explained.
The overall response by the Health Ministry is results-oriented and people-centred, Minister Anthony said (DPI)