UN delivers essential supplies and equipment to Sittwe General Hospital in Rakhine

Despite severe logistical challenges, the United Nations, through UNOPS, managed to deliver 20 hospital beds and other emergency equipment to Sittwe General Hospital.

Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar: UNOPS Myanmar - supported by the Norwegian Rakhine Fund - has provided emergency assistance for the procurement of essential supplies and equipment, ensuring the hospital is prepared to deal with the pandemic.

Despite difficult logistical hurdles related to the current travel restrictions, 20 hospital beds were delivered to the hospital on 29 August, increasing its capacity to deal with the region’s recent COVID-19 case surge. In addition, UNOPS delivered 1500 N95 masks and four oxygen concentrators on the following day. Two additional ventilators will be delivered early next month.

UNOPS - with the support from the Global Fund and through the National TB Programme - has also deployed two 16-module and one 2-module GeneXpert machines to Sittwe General Hospital. The new testing machines will significantly increase the number of tests which can be conducted each day. The Global Fund has also delivered 10,370 test kits to 27 laboratories across the country. From these, some are being deployed to Sittwe General Hospital to meet the increasing demand for testing.

Other essential supplies delivered include 16,000 fabric facemasks, 10,000 surgical masks, 1,000 hand gels, 1,000 hand soap bottles, 500 complete PPE sets and 30 non-contact thermometers.

As of September 4, senior office staff at Sittwe General Hospital said there were 271 COVID-19 patients in care.