Guyana: MoH receives donation of over 5000 doses of paxlovid

Georgetown, Guyana: The Ministry of Health received a donation of 5,040 doses of paxlovid from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) on the morning of March 13, 2023. According to the update shared by the ministry on the social media, the medication, valued at $100 million in Guyana dollars, is meant to reduce the hospitalisation time of persons infected with the COVID-19 disease.

During his brief remarks, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony said that the Ministry is grateful for the donation, which he said will interrupt the lifecycle of the COVID-19 virus, causing a reduction in the length of the disease, as per the social media post.

The Minister of Health mentioned, “Making this medication available to Guyana is another milestone in our fight against COVID-19. We acknowledge the role of UNICEF in strengthening the COVID-19 campaign”.

Deputy Representative of UNICEF Guyana and Suriname, Mr Irfan Akhtar, stated that UNICEF is committed to ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 therapies.

“These life-saving medicines have not been widely accessible to low and middle-income countries because of cost and availability. Our partners have been working to ensure that these countries benefit, including Guyana”, Deputy Representative Akhtar explained.

The paxlovid medication will be distributed across various Regions of Guyana to treat patients with COVID-19. Also in attendance at this simple handing-over ceremony were Health Officer, Dr Serena Bende-Pelswijk and Dr Tracy Bovell, Doctor-in-Charge of the Infectious Diseases Hospital.

The medicines were delivered to the country during the time when the cases of COVID-19 have been witnessing a surge and the cases reported daily has been increasing day by day.