The Diplomat
Spain has begun sending health material to Bolivia through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. The material is valued at 1,225,000 euros and is the second Spanish shipment of humanitarian aid to this Andean country to fight against COVID-19.
The shipment responds to a bilateral request for humanitarian aid to address the emergency caused by the pandemic. Bolivia registered last Monday, according to its Ministry of Health, 1,633 new cases of COVID-19 and 50 people died from the disease.
This is the second shipment of Spanish humanitarian aid to Bolivia since the beginning of the pandemic. The first took place in March of this year. On this occasion, Spain will send 100,000 rapid antigen tests and 15 respirators to the Andean country. The aid also includes a large quantity of anesthetic drugs, such as Propofol -the shipment includes 82,202 vials- or Fentanyl -196,150 ampoules-; also sedatives such as Midazolam -57. 050 ampoules-; and others that facilitate precise medical interventions in critical COVID19 cases, such as Atracurium -2,500 ampoules- used for endotracheal intubation, or for sedation such as Midazolam -57,050 ampoules- and 55,000 doses of Nadroparin, an anticoagulant drug.
The Spanish donation amounts to a total value of 1,225,000 euros in material provided by the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare -656,457 euros- and the AECID -568,500 euros-. All the material will be delivered to the Central de Abastecimiento y Suministros de Salud (CEASS), part of the Bolivian Ministry of Health, which will be in charge of distribution in the country’s public health system. The Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia will be in charge of the air transport of the donations through Boliviana de Aviación (BOA), which will transport the cargo from Spain in several flights over the next few weeks. The first shipment left last Tuesday night from Madrid to La Paz.
AECID, through its Humanitarian Action Office, is coordinating this operation in close contact with the Bolivian Embassy in Spain and, in Bolivia, through its Technical Cooperation Office and the Spanish Embassy in La Paz.
