Jamaica’s fight against COVID-19 has been boosted by the provision of medical equipment and supplies donated by the British High Commission. Jamaica receives medical supplies to fight COVID. The supplies include 90,000 N95 respirators, 188,000 medical masks, 80,000 antigen rapid diagnostic testing kits, 73,100 face shields, and nine oxygen concentrators. Also, the United Nations Multi-Partner trust fund donated supplies worth more than US$1 million. Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, the state minister in the state ministry of Health and Wellness received the supplies. In her address, the minister thanked the British High Commission for the donation, particularly the antigen testing kits. She said the kits will be a “game-changer” in the country’s efforts to control COVID-19. According to her, they needed something quick to find out the outcome of COVID-19 tests. She also emphasized the importance of multi-partnership cooperation in winning the fight against COVID-19.
The Economic Impact of COVID in Jamaica
Like the rest of the world, Jamaica has been faced with problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been a tough year, both economically and socially. Unemployment is on the increase and the projected GDP has fallen drastically. This is because of the sudden stop in tourism and the drop in export prices.
The Caribbean country recently concluded an economic reform program supported by a $1.66 billion Standby Arrangement from the IMF. The IMF had advised Jamaica to take austerity measures to improve its economy. The economy is expected to contract by over 5 percent this fiscal year. It is important that Jamaica received medical supplies to fight COVID. Government revenues are expected to decline by double digits. Emergency health expenditures, and social and economic support expenditures, are expected to rise.
Measures Taken
The Jamaican government implemented a social and economic support program called the CARE Programme. The program assists vulnerable individuals and small-scale businesses through a number of delivery channels. It provides compassionate grants to those who were unemployed or informally employed pre-pandemic. It also provides temporary unemployment benefits to the previously employed who have been laid off or terminated since the pandemic, and grants to the self-employed whose regular earnings have been disrupted in addition to grants to small businesses. All these occurred before Jamaica received the latest assistance in form of medical supplies to Fight COVID.
Other Previous Donations
Earlier in the year, the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) gave a support package valuing US$230 million. This was meant to support the Government of Jamaica’s work to secure the country’s borders against health risks. It was also to prevent violence against women, children, and gang recruitment driven by coronavirus pressures; protect the island’s prisons against coronavirus, and strengthen pandemic surveillance to guide policy responses. Micro projects totaling a further $11 million went towards small businesses. These tap into the expertise of Jamaican Chevening scholars as they explore mitigating the effects of COVID-19. The support package was in addition to the more than $30 million recently repurposed to procure personal protective equipment, among other items for the correctional services and other specialized law enforcement agencies.
Also, United States Southern Command donated a mobile field hospital. The hospital was donated to health care providers and used to support the Caribbean nation’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation, made on behalf of the American people, cost $753,000. The hospital can house up to 70 patient beds and will support health and public-safety professionals caring for patients, saving lives, and mitigating suffering. Medical teams making use of the hospital can isolate patients and conduct surgery.
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