Nassau, Bahamas, 07 August 2020 (PAHO/WHO) - On 06 August 2020, The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) donated laboratory equipment, COVID-19 tests, laptops, mobile phones and modems to the Ministry of Health (MOH) of The Bahamas.
At a ceremony held at MOH’s Head Office, Dr. Esther de Gourville, PAHO/World Health Organization Representative, briefed the Honorable Renard Wells, Minister of Health, on the donated laboratory supplies explaining that the laboratory equipment is ideally suited to low workload or acute care settings to provide rapid real time PCR test results within 45 minutes. Three sites are being equipped by PAHO Princess Margaret Hospital and Flamingo Garden Clinic in New Providence and Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama and Flamingo Garden Clinic in New Providence. This will expand the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity and increase the number of persons that can be tested daily.
The same donated laboratory equipment can be used in future by the MOH for tuberculosis, hepatitis and influenza testing. PAHO’s donations of communication equipment is to be used in the MOH’s COVID-19 contact tracing programme which is being expanded in response to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
PAHO will continue to provide technical advice and support to the country’s on-going COVID-19 outbreak responses in the areas of laboratory testing, surveillance, risk communication, mental health and infection prevention and control.
On 08 August, PAHO also launched an Infection Prevention and Control training course for 35 Bahamian health care workers.
