ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) – Health Minister Nickolas Steele says Grenada is using non-traditional international travel routes to get medical supplies needed in the COVID-19 battle safely on the island, and Venezuela assisting in that effort.

“Venezuela has been providing logistical support,” Steele said at a virtual news conference yesterday (April 9), while informing journalists that a Venezuelan aircraft is scheduled to arrive at Maurice Bishop International Airport with more testing equipment.

“This is the second time that they (Venezuela) have been providing in general logistics for us but not just us, but for other islands in the OECS [Organization of Eastern Caribbean States],” he said, identifying Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines as among other islands that have benefitted from the humanitarian gesture.

The assistance comes amid a global fight for supplies.

Steele said working out the logistics of getting medical supplies on the island is one of Grenada’s biggest challenges.

“A lot of our equipment is procured. We have been fortunate enough to avoid equipment in the USA, but in order to get it here we have had to find non-traditional ways and that is where we have to thank the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he said.

As part of continuous efforts to improve the island’s ability to fight COVID-19, Grenada recently became capable of testing for the virus on island, through an arrangement with St George University, WINDREF – the University’s Research Department; the Caribbean Public Health Agency and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The Ministry of Health and the administrators of the General Hospital also began using a specially prepared ten-bed isolation unit for patients who will require hospital care.