The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment has once again received a very timely donation from the Republic of China (Taiwan) even as the health services here continue to battle a surge in Covid-19 infections.
Ten additional new ventilators were handed over to ministry officials during a brief ceremony at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Tuesday November 2nd, 2021. During the ceremony Ambassador Peter Sha Li Lan said, “When we learned about the great need, in response to the resurgence of the Covid-19 cases, we took a swift decision to donate 10 best quality ventilators and we managed to ship them here at the end of October. Hopefully they will greatly help the patients that are in need.”
Taiwan has also in the recent past donated, among other things; surgical masks, personal protective equipment and oxygen concentrators to assist the Ministry of Health in managing the Covid-19 situation.
Ambassador Lan further opined that “Public health is one of the sectors that we should continue to work on in terms of our bilateral relationship with St. Vincent and the Grenadines especially keeping in mind that this year is the 40th Anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.”
The machines came at a cost of just over three hundred and thirty thousand (USD330, 000.00) US dollars and are expected to be put into immediate service at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, the Argyle Isolation Centre and other health facilities as needed, according to Health Minister Hon. St. Clair Prince, who was also present at the handover.
Minister Prince expressed his appreciation for the donation and noted that “Taiwan has always been in partnership with us in the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment and this intervention has intensified during our special period where we underwent problems with the volcanic eruption and, of course, Covid-19. These 10 ventilators are the latest in the intervention in coping with the surge that we’ve had over the past few weeks.”St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Republic of China (Taiwan) formally entered into diplomatic relations on August 15th, 1981.