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– Min Cummings urges persons to capitalise on primary-care systems
THE Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) provided a myriad of health and health-related assistance to citizens through a Public Day held at its Brickdam complex on Friday.
Several persons turned up to the ministry to air their concerns, seek medical assistance and complain about issues within the sector. The ministry strategically divided the team of professionals into various sections to deal with specific issues.
After about one hour following commencement of the Public Day, he had already engaged with two elderly patients who had Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and was able to refer them to a medical institution that would best care for them.
“It’s like a standard medical consultation, they come here and they give us their primary concerns and then we investigate this through a series of questions to actually ascertain what might be the underlying cause,” Dr. Jones explained.
“We are open to persons from all walks of life, because they are saying we are not very closely connected and so we are here and we have an open day, so persons with any diseases or any matters — be it health or otherwise — we are here at your disposal to see how we can best assist you,” Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, said.
One woman, Ephah McKenzie, was at the Public Day with her five-month-old baby. The woman related to the team of professionals that her child has a heart condition which prevents her from breathing normally.
Due to the severity of the ailment, she was given a note to take to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Brigadier (ret’d) George Lewis, so that she could receive urgent attention.
Meanwhile, an elderly woman, Donna (only name given) visited the open day to complain to the team from the ministry and the ministers themselves, about the “slothful” processes at the GPHC.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle, she complained that it took her nearly three months to get an x-ray done; and during that time, she was even told by medical professionals within the GPHC to “get it done” at a private hospital.
However, she highlighted that she had previously complained to the public health ministry about this incident and was able to get the x-ray done much sooner at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre on the East Bank of Demerara.
“That’s far though, and it’s not fair for people to leave Georgetown and go till up there. It got people up there who would want to benefit from that hospital,” the elderly woman said.
Dr. Cummings stressed that there are over 300 health facilities spread out across communities and persons ought to utilise these.
“We are big on primary care [because] that’s the first stop shop for our patients who are not well,” she said, and added that these facilities are equipped to provide some recourse to persons.
The junior minister further explained that it is the intention of the ministry to provide easier access to health services and it is for this reason that these centres are present across the country.
However, she also explained that there are different tiers of providing medical recourse. There are the primary care centres, the cottage hospitals, the district health centres, the regional health centres and finally, the GPHC.
“We want to follow those tiers because what people do is bypass where they are and go straight to the GPHC; and we really want to clamp down on the number of persons who are going there and bypassing where they are living,” the minister said.
The GPHC, she explained, is a referral hospital and it is the country’s highest level of care
Further, she explained that the Public Day aimed to also educate persons about this. “It’s a way of reorienting [people] to make sure that you are using the facilities nearby, so when you come here, we guide you to that facility and there [if] is any immediate need we address that,” she said.
