$1.1B approved for medicines, oxygen, PPEs for ‘COVID’ Hospital

The sum of $1.1 billion will be expended to procure medicine, oxygen and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Lilliendaal Greater Georgetown.

The sum was catered for under the Ministry of Health’s drugs and medical supplies programme which was allocated some $4.1 billion. 

During the national budget estimates on Thursday, subject minister, Dr. Frank Anthony explained that the sums allocated for the ‘COVID’ Hospital will not only cater for oxygen, but other medications being used to treat patients, including remdesivir and baricitinib.

Minister Anthony told the house that the ministry intends to procure other medications once they become available. 

“Our intention is to procure paxlovid once it becomes available on the market, but unfortunately the supply is quite limited and a lot of that is being used in the United States and some of the European countries, so access to it is quite limited,” he said.

Minister Anthony further stated that the government is trying to source the Merck drug ‘Molnupiravir’.

“We have made some headways with that and recently, a local company has registered Molnupiravir in Guyana and hopefully they will be able to supply that particular drug,” the minister added.

Resources have been set aside under another programme to purchase vaccines for children ages five to 11 once they become available, Minister Anthony announced. 

Additionally, the sum of $776 million was set aside for the National Public Reference Laboratory. A large amount of that sum will be used to purchase reagents needed for PCR testing.

Some $523 million will also go towards the health emergency operating centre, which is the coordinating unit for the COVID response. 

Meanwhile, an allocation of $931 million was made for National AIDS Programme. This will cater for the procurement of a new algorithm for patients.

“We will be switching some of the older ARVs that we were using and we have a new algorithm that we will be using for our patients an this involves new drugs and they are a little bit more costly,” he said.

The sum of $328 million was approved for the development of a malaria lab and a number of other malaria related programmes, while $208 million was allocated for Tuberculosis (TB) and $173 for the elimination of Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy.  

Some $65 million will also be spent on filaria and leishmaniasis drugs; $30 million for medicines for dengue; and $16 million for veterinary public health.

This year, the sums allocated for drugs and medical supplies under disease control of the ministry saw an increase from $3.8 billion last year to $4.1 billion this year. An additional sum was allocated to this programme through a supplementary budget.

Opposition M.P, Karen Cummings questioned whether the sum allocated this year will be adequate to provide the relevant drugs needed to treat persons.

In response, Minister Anthony said the sums are adequate, noting that provisions are made under other programmes to procure reagents which can be considered medical supplies.