THE MINISTRY OF Health was the recipient of high quality equipment this week, which will assist in its trust to provide resuscitation training, basic life support and advanced cardiac support through trained healthcare professionals.

MINISTER OF HEALTH, St Clair Prince

The donation is part of a four-year collaborative project being executed by the Ministry and the Taiwan Technical Mission in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). Taiwan’s ambassador to SVG, Peter Sha-Li Lan, expressed belief that the project will better equip the local health sector to counter impacts caused by both the volcanic eruption and COVID-19.

He also explained that the project, which is dubbed “Public Health Emergency Response System Enhancement Project”, has three main components which span capacity building, through the training of 10 seed instructors in Taiwan for three months; equipment upgrading and the enhancement of community awareness.

“In the future, we are going to have more educational materials coming in to try to help the community to be more aware of the emergency response procedures here in St Vincent and the Grenadines. I congratulate the great works and the collective efforts of the Taiwan Technical Mission and the Ministry of Health for making this project possible,” Sha-Li Lan said while speaking at the handover ceremony this week.

The four-year project officially kicked off on November 2, 2021.

Minister of Health, St Clair Prince said its outcome will help improve resilience in the health system by improving emergency response at all levels.

“Equipment that is being handed over today can make a difference between life and death as they teach the skills necessary to help sustain life on someone who may be ill or Injured,” Prince said.

“This equipment will allow us to provide resuscitation training, basic life support and advanced cardiac support — two critical areas in providing medical assistance.”

The project will also facilitate, among other things, the training of seed instructors who will then be tasked with training locals in emergency response.

For the first time ever, this country will also train Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), who will eventually graduate into becoming paramedics.

TAIWAN’S ambassador to SVG, Peter Sha-Li Lan

“We are now working towards strengthening legislation and crafting policy to allow for these EMTs to be our respondents on ambulances…” the health minister said.

Equipment will also be provided under the project for major health facilities across the state, including

the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, hospitals both in Georgetown and Chateaubelair and the Levi Latham Health Centre.

The procurement of ambulances will also be a part of the project to boost this country’s current fleet.