Indian Ocean Commission donations help Seychelles increase medical preparedness
Marimoutou handed the equipment over to Minister of Health Peggy Vidot in a short ceremony on Tuesday. (Seychelles Nation)
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(Seychelles News Agency) - Health workers in the Seychelles will be better equipped to deal with patients who have contracted the COVID-19 virus after receiving a second batch of equipment from the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) on Tuesday.
The IOC secretary general, Vêlayoudom Marimoutou, handed the equipment over to Minister of Health Peggy Vidot, who said that “the equipment we have received today will be very helpful to us, especially the new ventilators that we will add to those we already have.”
The donation includes two BeneVision patient monitors, two Hamilton ventilators worth 141,000 euros alongside several GeneXpert tests and nasal swab tests amounting to 291,000 euros.
Vidot said the Ministry already had some of the equipment “in these times of a pandemic when you are never sure of the numbers especially after we had a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in May, it is important that we are always prepared.”
On his side, Marimoutou said that “so far under the SEGA-One Health network, Seychelles has benefitted from more than 800,000 Euros worth of various equipment since the onset of the pandemic.”
Marimoutou added that “our new laboratory expert is in Seychelles to evaluate what equipment the country needs as well as give training to the lab technicians.”
Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has recorded 21,903 cases of COVID-19 out of which 217 are still active. The island nation has recorded 119 COVID-related deaths.
Based in the Southwest Indian Ocean, SEGA - One Health brings together health organisations from Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros and Reunion with the aim of monitoring emerging diseases in these islands, understanding them and avoiding their spread by offering country-specific control measures.
Before the donation of equipment, the IOC secretary general called on Seychelles' president Wavel Ramkalawan.
The Indian Ocean Commission is an intergovernmental organisation that joins Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles together to encourage cooperation.
