GUYANA’S elderly will receive improved care and attention as the Elderly Health Programme that is presently part of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Unit, will soon become an independent unit with its own budget.
This will take place when the 2019 fiscal estimates are presented later this year by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, to the National Assembly.
In a release on its website, the Ministry of Public Health stated that Guyana’s ageing population has caused the government to want to ensure, that senior citizens are fully integrated into society to help mentor future generations.
Coordinator of the government’s Elderly Health Programme is Dr. Melissa DeHaarte, who recently made known her unhappiness with the dismissive way in which the elderly population is generally treated. “I want Guyana to have a new approach in terms of seeing the elderly as useful citizens because of something we call ageism, which is a stigma against elderly persons that they are no longer useful and that they should be put aside,” she explained, adding: “We are hoping that our society accepts our elderly, see them as useful, integrate them to have inter-generational exchanges with the youths because they can still teach the youths and the youths can still learn in any field, even if it’s to bake a cake. We have our teachers and nurses who would love to go back, even voluntarily. We need them in our environment.”
To help achieve this, Dr. DeHaarte will be working assiduously with the ministry’s team to ensure that the elderly eat well, have regular exercise and can afford proper nutrition. This will ensure that they are satisfied and healthy enough to live normal lives and pass on their wealth of knowledge.
“What society does is lump your illness with your age, saying ‘it’s an old people thing’, you don’t need to be active or do anything. With proper nutrition, diet and exercise you can live a long, healthy and prosperous life. We don’t want our elders to be grouped as dependable people. We want to see that they contribute to society and still live longer. We need to understand that we will all get old and avoid discrimination against older persons,” DeHaarte said.
However, what the government also requires are trained nurses and healthcare workers who can ensure that the elderly are given prominence. As such, part of the Unit’s strategy has resulted in the initiation of conversations with the Nursing Council and the University of Guyana (UG) to have the curriculum revised.
DeHaarte advised: “We have made progress so far and we are trying to lay out and wrap up the curriculum. We are awaiting a full spectrum of what is available in the curriculum…we find that both doctors and nurses don’t have much knowledge on how to deal with the elderly; their nutrition; medications or surgery. It’s just a broad blanket of knowledge, and therefore, they are treated [as] any adult regardless of their age.”
She also added that, presently, Guyana does not have a package of guaranteed services for the elderly and, as a result, healthcare services for the nation’s geriatrics “fall under the broad spectrum of chronic diseases.”
However, the proposed unit will be working in collaboration with other government ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Social Protection (MOSP) and the National Council for the Elderly, of which DeHaarte is a member of the Board.
All assistance will be needed as the national healthcare system is presently being stretched, in its attempt to cater for an expanding elderly population of which the productive population, fit to work and pay taxes, is slowly decreasing. The Elderly Health Programme coordinator attributes the expansion in the elderly population to advancements in medicine, which sees people living longer and fewer succumbing to the ravages of diseases.
Added to this, more women are entering the workforce as professionals and these severely limit their number of pregnancies. “As such we are having a tip in the scale of older persons compared to younger person in the population,” she stated.
Dr. Dehaarte who concluded that this will contribute to a “smaller number of working persons in the population” was keen to recommend that Guyanese begin to have discussions on these issues which will enable the population to grow, and to have healthy and active ageing persons.
In the meanwhile, the unit will continue to finalise its strategic vision with assistance from the Pan-American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) in collaboration with Cuban expert, Dr. Pedro Pons, a Geriatric Specialist attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Also, other works being conducted will see the Men’s Health becoming a separate unit, following the 2019 Budget, and will be headed by Dr. Dennis Bassier.
