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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Bahamas Information Services Updates
The Ministry of Health participated today in an official handover of donated medical supplies from the United States Northern Command in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Health. In attendance were the Minister of Health, the Honourable Renward Wells, Acting Permanent Secretary Siobhan Deane, Acting Director of Nursing, Gina Dean, Hospital Administrator, Mary Walker and other Ministry of Health officials. The special delegation from the United States included the Chargé d'Affaires, Ms. Usha Pitts, Rear Admiral, Dan Cheever and Major General Michelle Rose of the US Northern Command, Major General Christopher Callahan of the Rhode Island National Guard (RING) and other US government officials.
The Minister of Health in his brief remarks stated, “medical supplies such as the 4,900 COVID-19 tests kits with swabs, six (6) AIRVO respirators, BioFire Machines with 2,560 BioFire tests kits, high flow meters and vaccine coolers are just some of the essential items donated to the Bahamas through the U.S. Northern Command.” He advised that the BioFire machine was already being utilized at the Princess Margaret Hospital Laboratory. Minister Wells added, “with the BioFire machine our medical technologists can use multiplex PCR technology to test comprehensively for the COVID-19 virus in an hour.”
The Minister of Health also thanked the U.S. Northern Command in advance for the ten (10) additional AIRVO respirators that have been procured and are due to arrive in-country at the end of the month. He also acknowledged that a GenX machine is also being acquired for the Rand Memorial Hospital. Minister Wells further expressed appreciation to RING for their generosity to permit their C-12 aircraft to transport the AstraZeneca vaccines across The Bahamas to complete Phase 2 of the Family Island Vaccine Rollout. Chargé d' Affaires Ms. Usha Pitts committed to a progressive partnership between the United States Government and the Government of the Bahamas to continually fight the COVID-19 pandemic. She stated that “military cooperation is very important, and we are happy that we could provide that assistance.”
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