Health Ministry receives $122M in medical equipment from PAHO/WHO, India

The Ministry of Health on Monday received medical equipment from PAHO/WHO and India valued at $122m to aid Guyana’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Public Information (DPI) said that the equipment was presented to the Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony by PAHO/ WHO Representative to Guyana, Dr. Luis Felipe Codina and High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa at a simple ceremony at the Ministry’s Central Supplies Unit, Mudflat, Kingston.

The PAHO/WHO donation included five ventilators and 24 Oxygen Concentrators, DPI said.

The High Commission of India presented 21 ventilators and 315 boxes of examination gloves, as part of the US$1 million allocated to Guyana from the Quick Impact Development Project, which is being implemented through a collaboration between PAHO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Health Minister also expressed his gratitude for the donation of the Oxygen Concentrators. He said that they will be very helpful in providing air for patients, as the machine takes ordinary air and concentrates or converts it to oxygen.

“This will be extremely helpful in the interior of our country, especially places like in Region One, Region Seven, Region Eight and Region Nine, where it is challenging for us to take oxygen into those communities. So, by having these oxygen concentrators it would help us greatly with our patients who would need that type of service,” Anthony said, according to DPI.