COVID-19 response bolstered with $205M Japanese grant

With a grant of just over $205 million from the Japanese Government, Guyana has been able to source additional equipment and resources to strengthen its response to COVID-19 treatment and diagnosis.
Speaking during the daily coronavirus briefing on Monday, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony informed that this additional funding would support purchasing of various machines as well as four new ambulances. These articles are expected to be delivered to Guyana by November.
“That grant was used to buy various needed equipment for the health sector that would assist us with COVID. Some of the things that we’ll be getting through that grant include imaging equipment that we can use to help with the diagnosis of COVID. We’re getting at least four different ultrasound machines. We’re also getting some sterilizers, ECG machines. We’ll get some pulse oximeters and so forth,” said the Minister.
He added that authorities had been working over the course of six months to get the grant approved.
The additional resources come at a time when there have been startling increases in hospitalisation, new positives and deaths. In fact, September 2021 is now the deadliest month since the pandemic started, having claimed some 137 lives as at Sunday. In preparation for this surge, authorities had made provision for the expansion of bed capacity at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, to accommodate more patients in the intensive care and general wards.
This spike, he outlined, is expected to continue for a few weeks, but can be curtailed if people get vaccinated and observe the guidelines properly.
“We are going to see this trend of increase in cases. We’ll see that for the next couple of weeks I’d imagine, but if people start taking precautions, I think we’ll start seeing a decrease in the numbers. Those precautions are all standard things that we’re all acquainted with.”
Government has expended billions of dollars to ensure there is proper management of infections in the country, as well as resources to support the current vaccination campaign countrywide.
Last June, the Ministry asked the National Assembly for a supplementary provision to the tune of $1.9 billion, to be directed for the purchasing of COVID-19 vaccines. The sum of $1.2 billion was requested to facilitate payment for vaccine supplies and the immunisation campaign as part of efforts from the Ministry’s end to mitigate a further spread. Another $619 million is for additional resources to purchase vaccines.
In Guyana, first dose uptake stands at 354,676 persons or 69.1 per cent, while second dose uptake stands at 184,072 persons or 35.9 per cent. Some 22,624 adolescents have also taken their first doses.
Regional first dose statistics show a 75.5 per cent immunisation in Region One, 56.7 per cent in Region Two, 65.5 per cent in Region Three, 77.4 per cent in Region Four, 67.6 per cent in Region Five, 70.6 per cent in Region Six, 68.6 per cent in Region Seven, 43.5 per cent in Region Eight, 71.3 per cent in Region Nine and 28.9 per cent in Region 10.
For second doses, the figures are: 33.8 per cent in Region One, 32.7 per cent in Region Two, 32 per cent in Region Three, 40.8 per cent in Region Four, 37.1 per cent in Region Five, 36.2 per cent in Region Six, 32.9 per cent in Region Seven, 28.8 per cent in Region Eight, 38.1 per cent in Region Nine and 12.6 per cent in Region 10.
“What you can observe from these numbers is that there are lots of people who took their first dose, but they haven’t returned as yet for their second dose. We want to encourage those persons to come out. It’s not the Sputnik second dose that they’re waiting on. There are lots of people who took AstraZeneca and the Sinopharm vaccine and they have not come back for their second dose,” said Dr Anthony. (G12)