Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 01, 2021 (SKNIS): During Monday’s (June 28, 2021), Emergency Sitting of the National Assembly, the Hon. Akila Byron-Nisbett, Minister of Health, indicated that the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis through the Ministry of Health has secured over 35 ventilators in the effort to better equip the local healthcare system in the fight against the COVID-19 virus.
“At the Joseph N. France Hospital (JNF) we have just over 35 ventilators, we have PPE’s, we have all the necessary tools and equipment and resources required to care for those persons who are hospitalized. We have over 35 ventilators at our disposal at the hospital; we have everything we need to care for positive cases should they need to be hospitalized. But that’s not what we want, we want to avoid persons becoming severely ill, we want to avoid persons dying because of COVID-19 because we do not want to see people suffer because of this disease,” said Minister Byron-Nisbett.
So far, the Ministry of Health has embarked on a robust vaccination drive which thus far has resulted in over 69 percent of the adult population receiving at least one dose of the Oxford- AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, with another 57.2 percent being fully vaccinated.
Minister Byron-Nisbett further stressed that the position of the government is to save lives. Since the start of the recent community spread, the Ministry of Health via the National COVID-19 Task Force has effectively used contact tracing as a means of containing the spread of the virus across the Federation.
“Every time we identify a positive case and remove them from the general population, we avoid worsening our community spread. Do not let anybody fool you that what we are doing is not working, as a matter of fact we were in discussion with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and they asked how can we help, what are you doing. In relation to managing the pandemic, when we explain to them the approach we took with our community spread we received commendations for such great managing for keeping our people safe,” said Minister Byron-Nisbett.
Minister Byron-Nisbett further stated that the containment of the COVID-19 virus and the government’s public education campaign greatly assisted in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic across the Federation. The Minister of Health commented on the ongoing vaccination efforts and stressed the science-based evidence that shows the effectiveness of vaccination against COVID-19.
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