Guyana’s Dr Tracey Bovell receives prestigious OAS Award

Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Georgetown Public Hospital and Lead Doctor at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Dr Tracey Bovell, has been selected to be a recipient of the prestigious Award for Good Practices in Women’s Leadership, at the upcoming Organization of American States’ (OAS’) Summit.

The OAS will be recognising women in leadership in the Americas. The Health Ministry said it received notification that Dr Bovell, one of the nominees made by Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, has been selected to receive this distinguished and prestigious award from the OAS.
She will receive her award during the summit in the presence of almost every Head of State from the Americas. The award ceremony will be held during the IX Summit of the Americas, on June 9 in Los Angeles, California.
The Health Minister has since congratulated Dr Bovell for the distinguished, excellent, and compassionate leadership she has provided in the treatment and care of COVID-19 patients in Guyana. She is presently the doctor in charge of, and lead doctor at, the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, an annex of the Georgetown Hospital Corporation.
The Infectious Diseases Hospital opened its doors for operation in September 2020. Since that time, every critically-ill COVID-19 patient has been treated at the hospital, being the national referral hospital for critically-ill COVID-19 patients. The hospital has often been fully occupied with more than 100 critically-ill patients, and often with more than 30 patients on ICU, ventilator-dependent treatment.
The Infectious Diseases Hospital has treated more than 3,500 patients. It boasts 195 beds with capacity for ventilator-based treatment, surgeries, dialysis, radiological and imaging interventions. The hospital caters for adults and children, and provides complete maternal care for COVID-19-affected women.
While Dr Bovell has been in charge, and has provided leadership for the operationalisation and functioning of the Infectious Diseases Hospital from the very beginning in September 2020, her leadership in the fight against COVID-19 started even before that. She was part of the clinical team that crafted the COVID-19 response from the time COVID-19 became a pandemic.
This healthcare professional was appointed in March 2020 as the Chairperson of the GPHC COVID-19 Taskforce. She led a team of specialists from various departments of the hospital to craft the first set of protocols and guidelines for COVID-19, including the protocols for diagnosis, treatment and occupational health and safety. “In the early days, when COVID-19 caused intense illness and had a high mortality rate, Dr. Bovell fearlessly became the face of the treatment programme. Yet, she found time to communicate with family and friends of those who were critically-ill and who could not benefit from families being around them. In the face of high mortality among critically-ill COVID-19 patients, Dr. Bovell remained resilient, determined, and compassionate in her quest to ensure that patients were receiving quality care,” the Health Ministry has lauded.
The Minister added that the support and equal dedication and commitment of many doctors, nurses, technologists and other allied healthcare providers played a significant role in Guyana being able to provide quality and life-saving treatment to thousands of Guyanese who contracted the COVID-19.