By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Ministry of Health has allocated what would be a $30 million annual budget to tackle the Bahamas’ Zika virus outbreak, a senior official yesterday acknowledging that this had forced it to adjust its financial plans.

Dr Glen Beneby, the chief medical officer, said the Government - through the Ministry - had allocated some $2.5 million per month to combat Zika.

Dr Beneby, who addressed a conference held by the Ministry of Tourism, added that the need to maintain public health required such a budget.

“When situations like this occur they go beyond sometimes what you would expect,” he explained. “We had looked at doing upgrades to our services in the public health sector before this actually happened, and then on August 9 we got our first case.

“Once that happened we realised that we were going to have to do additional spending. We have teams in the Ministry of  Health who were given the specific responsibility to review the situation, particularly in laboratory services, on-the-ground services and research, and they have developed the first budget.”

Dr Beneby added: “It [the budget] is in the region of $2.5 million month. This is going to be subject to variation based on what we find. I would like to believe that we are going to be ahead of the curve, and things are going to be done in such a manner that we will not need any more; indeed, we will need less, but that is optimism.”

Health officials yesterday said this nation currently does not carry out Zika testing, as samples currently go to a regional laboratory in Trinidad, which has a turnaround time of about three weeks.

Dr Beneby said that turnaround should be reduced by 50 per cent once the Bahamas ‘modifies’ its own testing facility. “It’s going to cost us somewhere in the region of $50,000-$100,000,” he said.

“That is for the modification of the laboratory situation. We have a lab already. Fortunately, we have skilled people who can do the testing that needs to be done, and so we had to purchase the equipment, upgrade the place and hopefully that will be done very soon.”   

Health officials have reported that as at August 30 there were eight confirmed Zika cases in New Providence. Officials are also still receiving results associated with the 83 suspected cases reported last month.

The Bahamas reported an initial case of the virus on August 10 in a man who had travelled to Jamaica. He was a resident of Pinewood Gardens.

Zika, which has been linked to microcephaly in newborn babies, can be transmitted through sex.