– now it has ‘bio-chem’ machine at its disposal

THE Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) is now in possession of a biochemistry analyser, critical laboratory equipment that was out of order for several months, causing patients to have their various tests done privately.

The absence of a functioning machine was deemed a significant inconvenience to residents of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), since several of the tests done by the machine are critical to effectively treating and diagnosing patients for a wide spectrum of diseases, especially those being prepared for surgery.
These diagnoses include kidney function tests, liver function tests, lipide profile tests, enzyme tests and sugar tests.

“We need to have these tests done in order to confirm diagnoses,” LHC Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mohammed Riyasat explained. “The results will also guide you to what treatment, or the level of treatment you have to use.
“Now that we have the machine running, right away we can have tests done, and then you can also know whether the treatment is working or not.”
One of the major setbacks of not having the machine was the financial burden it placed on the residents of Linden and elsewhere in Region 10 to source these tests privately, with some costing as much as $10,000.

“That financial burden was offset, and we are happy that the machine was loaned to us and we can use it,” Dr Riyasat said, adding:
“We have more efficiency, and it is less frustrating for the doctors too.”
The machine is currently on loan to the LHC by Caribbean Medical. Dr Riyasat explained that efforts were always made by the management of LHC to have their machine repaired, but because that could only be done by an agent of the company it was bought from, there was a problem.

The LHC then put the purchase of a new machine on the 2017 Budget, but since the hospital cannot purchase capital items unilaterally, it needed to be done through the national procurement process through the Ministry of Public Health. But that is now all in the past, as the machine is expected to be purchased soon.

BACK TO NORMAL
Another plus for LHC is that only a few weeks after nurses would have staged a sit-in because of not having medical surgical supplies and critical drugs, the issue has been resolved and the hospital’s stock is now back to normal.
In an effort to resolve matter and to do so quickly, Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence decided that the LHC would source drugs and supplies from the GPHC on a temporary basis. That was done the very day the nurses staged the sit-in.
The supplies and drugs that were in shortage, according to Dr Riyasat, are now being sourced from the GPHC’s Materials Management Unit (MMU).
Those items include surgical tape, gloves, fusions, gauze, diabetes test strips and a few critical drugs such as Gravol injections.

“Right now,” Dr Riyasat said, “the bond has a lot of medical surgical supplies… Last week we sent our truck twice to the MMU bond; today again the truck went down…
“I must say we get a lot of drugs from the bond; that we have come a long way in resolving this problem. Our med-surgical supplies are almost back to normal; pharmaceuticals as well, somewhere around 85%.”