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Govt. expends over $25B for COVID-19 Response
– says $2B more may be needed
Kaieteur News – From 2020 to mid-2021, the PPP/C Government has expended $25.7B on its COVID-19 response programme. In order to achieve herd immunity among the adult population, it may very well need another $2.1B before the year is over. This was noted in the latest Mid-Year Report of the Ministry of Finance.
Senior Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh
In the document that was released yesterday, the Ministry shared that in 2020, the government expended $16.7 billion on COVID-19 response, of which $7.1 billion related to the health sector, representing 13.9 percent of the total health sector spending. The Finance Ministry said this included outfitting the annex to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) in Liliendaal, to adequately receive and treat moderate to severe COVID-19 cases.
Further, the Ministry said $7 billion was expended on the COVID-19 Cash Grant Programme which saw the commencement of distribution of $25,000 to every household across the country as a form of livelihood support. It was noted too, that additional sums were expended to procure sanitising agents, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Ventilators, and other necessary equipment and supplies.
Government, the Ministry said, also received external in-kind support from bilateral partners including China, India, and Colombia in the form of PPEs, Ventilators, and vaccines, among others.
With respect to 2021 spending, Kaieteur News understands that the government rolled out an aggressive vaccination campaign given the gradual improvements in the global vaccine supply chain. Towards this end, over $2 billion was expended for the first half of 2021 through the National Budget, on the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Barring further supply-chain challenges, the Finance Ministry said an additional $2.1 billion could become required to facilitate achieving high levels of immunity within the adult population.
The Ministry was keen to note that this vaccination programme alone is anticipated to place an additional demand on the Treasury by approximately 0.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), even though government received, through the COVAX facility, 62,400 vaccines to support national vaccination efforts, as at the half year. It is anticipated that the balance of the Guyana COVAX allocation of 38,400 will be received in the second half.
Apart from its disclosure on expenditure for COVID-19, it was noted by the Ministry that the advent of the pandemic continues to place a strain on public health systems. To address the challenge of limited human resources, the Finance Ministry said health authorities endeavoured to reassign healthcare workers to support an aggressive response to COVID-19 in order to prevent greater loss of life, though this has created challenges in delivering regular healthcare services which were further compounded by the restrictions on movement imposed by the COVID-19 Emergency Measures.
It was noted as well, that GPHC has also afforded the COVID frontline healthcare workers a risk allowance, while eligible workers continue to receive their on-call allowance.
To supplement the human resource needs, the Ministry said government has pursued the temporary employment of retired healthcare workers. In response to the challenge of inadequate drugs and medical supplies, the ministry said Government has also undertaken to procure sufficient quantities of same to ensure stock availability into 2022, at minimum.
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