– as gov’t acquires 26 ventilators, other equipment from PAHO and India

GUYANA will soon have nationwide capacity to provide intensive care to persons who experience severe forms of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), as the country received $122M worth of ventilators and other equipment from India and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on Monday.
As it is now, the country has only one COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and this is located at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), but with the ‘timely’ donation, Guyana will be able to build its regional capacity, said Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony.

The country received 21 ventilators and 315 boxes of gloves from India, and five ventilators along with 24 oxygen concentrators from PAHO to aid in the fight against COVID-19.
Locally, the authorities have so far recorded over 3,521 cases of the dreaded disease, and there is a possibility that over 176 infected persons (five per cent) would need intensive care. The country has already lost 104 persons to the disease, and there are 16 persons in the COVID-19 ICU at the GPHC.

The GPHC, in addition to providing intensive care and treatment to COVID-19 patients, also manages other routine ailments, and given that cases were recorded in every region across the country, there were also times when persons had to travel to Georgetown to get treatment.

In recognising the burden being placed on people, GPHC and the need for intensive care, the Government has committed to retrofitting health facilities in various regions, so that they could administer care to patients who develop the severe forms of COVID-19.

“These ventilators will help us to create this regional capacity; it will help us to lift our capacity in a big way, because with this donation, most of our facilities will be equipped,” Dr. Anthony said.

He further noted that several ventilators will be placed at GPHC, while others will be deployed to the various administrative regions.
The 24 oxygen concentrators will complement the ventilators and provide much-needed support especially in hinterland communities, where facilities are dependent on oxygen cylinders.
“So oxygen concentrators would be used in the hinterland because instead of buying cylinders of oxygen, we can now generate oxygen from air, and the concentrators work as well as oxygen from cylinder…so we are pleased to get these oxygen concentrators,” said Dr. Anthony.
Advancing regional capacity is seen as timely because the country has recorded a large number of deaths related to COVID-19, within the past two months.
“We were waiting on these equipment for some time because there are severe patients who have breathing problems…so we have a lot more equipment now to put them on and ensure that they get the desired care that can be offered,” said Dr. Anthony.

This donation is a clear indication that Guyana is not alone in the fight against this disease, said the Health Minister.
Resident PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr. Luis Felipe Codina, while reinforcing the organisation’s support for Guyana, said: “This is one portion of support, as our duty here is to work together with the ministry of health in a technical way, especially during this emergency…we have to support with medical equipment and everything to better respond to the pandemic.”
Those sentiments were echoed by High Commissioner to India, Dr. K.J. Srinivasa, who said India is taking the role of a world leader in the fight against COVID-19.
“we have helped over 100 countries in combatting COVID-19, and now we are at the forefront of working on a vaccine…we have three in trial and we hope that we will have one that works in early 2021,” said Dr. Srinivasa.

Guyana has evidently not been left of India’s efforts, as the country has already received US$1 million from the Government of India for COVID-19 Response.
This allocation of US$1 million, which was used to purchase the ventilators, was from the “Quick Impact Development Project” that is being implemented jointly by the Ministry of Health of India, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support Guyana’s response to COVID-19.