The Northern Marianas has received $US36 million in funds under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security or, CARES, Act and it plans to spend nearly a third of it to buy Covid-19 test kits and Personal Protective Equipment.
PPE is in high demand around the world Photo: Xinhua / Xiao Yijiu / AFP
The CNMI administration said $10 million would be used to support payroll expenses of first responders and support staff related to the Covid-19 emergency.
Some $6.4 million of the funds will be earmarked for capitalised fixed assets, including ventilators, Intensive Care beds, monitors, portable x-rays, ultrasounds, infusion pumps and detection kits.
Another $6 million will be set aside for health services.
The rest of the funding will be spent on the construction of the Medical Care and Treatment Site and for assorted related expenses, including meals for people in quarantine, communications, travel cost of chartered cargo flights for PPE supplies and office expenses.
The $2 trillion CARES Act was passed by Congress in March.
Covid-19 treatment covered by CARES Act
Meanwhile those who get sick from Covid-19 in the CNMI don't need to worry about the cost of treatment.
Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation CEO, Esther Muna, said the CARES Act would cover the cost of the treatment.
She said even if the CARES Act didn't exist, CHCC still provided inpatient services whether a patient was insured or not.
Ms Muña added that was what uncompensated care was for.
Uncompensated care is health care or services provided by hospitals or health care providers that don't get reimbursed. Often, uncompensated care occurred in places when people didn't have insurance and could not afford to pay the cost of care.
Esther Muña Photo: Supplied