A doctor attached to the George-town Public Hospital Corporation has been tapped by the Organization of American States (OAS) to receive an award in recognition of women in leadership in the Americas.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) in a release yesterday informed that it had received notification from the OAS that Dr Tracey Bovell has been selected to receive the prestigious award for Good Practices in Women’s Leadership which honours women leaders in the whole of the Americas. She will receive her award during the upcoming OAS IX Summit of the Americas on June 9, 2022, in Los Angeles, California in the presence of almost every Head of State from the Americas.
Dr Bovell was nominated for the award by Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, and was one of several nominees. She is a consultant in Emergency Medicine at the GPHC and is currently the doctor in charge and the lead doctor in the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, a part of the Georgetown Hospital Corporation. The Ministry of Health nominated Dr Bovell and a group of distinguished citizens from around the Americas selected Dr Bovell as one of the awardees at the upcoming OAS Summit. She will receive the award for Good Practices in Women’s Leadership under the category of Women’s Leadership in the Response to the COVID-19 Crisis.
According to the release, Dr Bovell has been in charge and provided leadership for the operationalisation and the functioning of the Infectious Disease Hospital from the very beginning in September 2020, and her leadership in the fight against COVID-19 started even before that. She was part of the clinical team that crafted the COVID-19 response from the time COVID-19 became a pandemic.
Guyana’s first case of COVID-19 was confirmed and the first COVID-19 mortality was on March 11, 2020.
Dr Bovell was appointed in March 2020 (at the beginning of the pandemic) as the Chairperson for the GPHC COVID-19 Taskforce. She led a team of specialists from various departments of the hospital to craft the first set of protocols and guidelines for COVID-19, including the protocols for diagnosis, treatment and occupational health and safety. Also, as part of her responsibilities, Dr Bovell led sensitisation sessions with health care providers and other staff in the health sector and other sectors in all ten geographic regions of Guyana.
“In the early days when COVID-19 caused intense illness and had a high mortality rate, Dr Bovell fearlessly became the face of the treatment programme. Yet, she found time to communicate with family and friends of those who were critically-ill and who could not benefit from families being around them. In the face of high mortality among critically-ill COVID-19 patients, Dr Bovell remained resilient, determined and compassionate in her quest to ensure that patients were receiving quality care,” the release stated.
The Minister, the Ministry of Health, and the GPHC have acknowledged that Dr Bovell could not have succeeded alone. The support and equal dedication and commitment from many doctors, nurses, technologists, and other allied healthcare providers, have been recognised as having played a significant role in Guyana being able to provide quality and life-saving treatment to thousands of Guyanese who survived the vicious and deadly illnesses that COVID-19 caused.
“In recognising the contributions and the leadership of Tracey Bovell, we also recognize the meritorious service from hundreds of healthcare providers. Dr Bovell’s recognition is recognition for all of them”, the MoH observed.
“Dr Bovell’s leadership in the COVID-19 response has made an indelible mark in the story of public health in Guyana. Dr. Bovell is a Woman of Worth in our country. The Minister of Health, the Ministry and the GPHC are proud that the OAS has recognized one of our own among women leaders in the COVID-19 response. For her dedication and commitment, Guyana is highly indebted to this young doctor. We are grateful that the OAS has assisted us in recognising her work,” the release added.
