Government seeks consultant to assess covid19 response

THE Ministry of Health published a paid press advert on Thursday seeking to hire an individual consultant to assess the ministry's response to the covid19 pandemic and make recommendations to inform the ministry's response to future pandemics.

The advert said the Government had received financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) the cost of a health services support programme and intended to apply part of that funding to contract a consultant. The advert did not say how the total funding was nor how much would be spent on a consultant, and did not say if the funding was a grant or a loan. The advert referred interested individuals to the ministry's website for details of the project's terms of reference (TORS).

The TORS said an analysis should be conducted for five key strategic and operational areas.

These were leadership and management at a strategic and operational level; impact on the overall public health system and the use of the Parallel Health System; insight into the effectiveness of the vaccination programme with possible challenges and constraints; the pandemic’s psychological impact on the populace and health workers and an assessment of the mental health intervention; and the inter-sectoral and international collaboration as well as the role of the private sector.

Newsday sent questions to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh who referred us to the ministry's corporate communications unit which later issued a statement titled, Covid19 Prevention, Detection and System Response.

"The ministry advises that the main objective of the consultancy is to review and assess the country’s public health response to the covid19 pandemic in relation to the health system pillars set out by the WHO's International Health Regulations."

In line with these pillars, the country’s public health response will be assessed in four core areas.

These were prevention (national legislation, policy and financing, communication and advocacy, infection prevention control strategies and immunisation); detection (laboratory systems, surveillance, reporting and human resources); response (emergency preparedness, operational aspect of response, risk communications strategies); and international health regulations (related hazards, including points of entry.)

"The result of this assessment will assist in developing the health sector’s resilience, inform responses to future pandemics and contribute to operational readiness as it relates to future disasters and emergencies.

"This exercise forms part of the Ministry of Health’s continuous assessment to ensure the delivery of quality healthcare to the citizens of TT."