Global Fund financial assistance to strengthen COVID Intensive Care Units – Health Minister

Guyana recently submitted a request to the Global Fund asking for resources to enhance the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capabilities at all regional hospitals.

Global Fund financial assistance to strengthen COVID Intensive Care Units – Health Minister

The Government of Guyana has benefitted from US$1.8M in additional financial assistance, as part of the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM).

The funds will go toward further boosting the Ministry of Health’s ongoing COVID-19 emergency response, according to Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony.

Guyana recently submitted a request to the Global Fund asking for resources to enhance the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capabilities at all regional hospitals.

“So, these funds would assist us in adding ICU type of beds, it will also assist us in procuring monitors and ventilators and create a space in each one of the regional hospitals so that we can manage patients with severe covid,” Dr Anthony said.

Late last year Guyana also benefited from a grant of US$357,894 to aid in its COVID-19 fight.

Dr. Anthony explained that it is important to build the capacity at ICUs at regional hospitals, pointing out that the current facility has a capacity of 25 beds.

As a result, he said a decision was taken to expand the existing ICU.

“We have seen at times when you can have surges of patients and you need to make sure that you have extra capacities in case you have those surges. So, we have added that capacity to your ICU at the Covid hospital and so we have expanded it to about 35 beds,” The Health Minister further explained.

According to Dr. Anthony, the Government has since taken aggressive steps to remove the limitations and strengthen the response.

“We now have 35 ventilators at the ocean view facility and at each of our regional hospitals we have ventilators. But what the global fund grant would do is to complement what we have so that we are expanding the capacity at each of these hospitals. So, if we have severely ill patients, we can take care of those patients in the region,” Dr. Anthony further noted.

Guyana continues to see a rise in daily Covid cases and deaths, the country has also recorded a 90% recovery rate since the beginning of the pandemic.

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