EDITOR’S NOTE: In February, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) met with Health Ministers and officials, from across the Americas, and challenged them to undertake the digital transformation of their respective public health departments. In this newsletter, #HealthCaribbean takes a look at technology, or lack thereof, in general use across the Caribbean.
Our headline is taken from the Jamaica Observer, and reads: “Gov’t to acquire equipment to test for variants of viruses”. In our previous newletter, we looked at COVID-19 variants in the Caribbean, and mentioned that the Caribbean Public Health Agency undertook such tests for member states of the Caribbean Community: Jamaica being one such member.
In contrast to this, Mona Tech Engineering Services operating out of the Department of Engineering at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, Jamaica, received funding from the the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange to “resuscitate more than 18 ventilators that were out of commission for over two years”.
Other than Jamaica, two other locations are considered, namely: Guyana, and the Bahamas. In Guyana, the Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases lamented the lack of equity in dialysis services, and treatment options available throughout the country, as well as the need for more specialists.
Finally in the Bahamas, the United States Embassy and the International Federation of the Red Cross donated new lab equipment to The Princess Margaret Hospital’s Medical Laboratory, through a USAID initiative. It should therefore be evident that, during the pandemic at least, the Caribbean will require additional funding to achieve PAHO goals.
HealthCaribbean Weekday ed. 2021-03-29
Cornwall Regional Hospital