By Margaret Burke

LIFE and death may weigh in the balance for people who have to travel long distances to receive much-needed medical intervention. This is why government has been ensuring that Guyanese living in the hinterland can access medical care within the communities they reside.

Since 2015, there has been the ‘bridging of the gap’ between the coastland and hinterland in terms of access to healthcare that the government has been offering. By 2016, the government had delivered to the people healthcare funding to the tune of some $91.5B in an effort to ensure that all Guyanese had access to good quality healthcare. A further $35.9B was allocated in 2019. The fact is that ready access to healthcare wherever people are within the hinterland saves time, money, human and other resources of families, but most of all it can save lives. Just imagine a woman experiencing a seriously ‘troubled’ labour that demand cesarean delivery or other urgent medical intervention. Such a situation can quickly deteriorate, possibly leading to a case of maternal mortality, if help does not come quickly.

National Health plan

“Guyana’s public health system, in the past, was plagued by inadequate infrastructure, high maternal mortality rates, weak disease prevention measures, poor emergency health responses and constraints to access to health services, particularly for hinterland residents,” President David Granger stated in his 2018 address to the National Assembly. Moving apace, the government has increased the number of drug dispensaries across the country. They included the construction of a new large $539M distribution centre in Georgetown, as the Central Supplies Unit (CSU) and an $8M extension of the Suddie Public Hospital Drug Bond in Region Two. The Leonora Cottage Hospital in Region Three also got an additional $9.5M drug bond and dispensary.

In 2019, the government commissioned 22 new medical facilities. At the same time, the number of doctors and nurses continue to increase, while programmes to upgrade them in areas such as Radiology, Paediatrics, Neo-Natal practices, Anesthesia, Gynaecology, and Cardiac Intensive Care have resulted in overall improvement.
Significantly, there was also the launch of the National Mental Health Plan 2015-2020. It was discovered that about 200,000 Guyanese are living with mental health issues. This demanded the implementation of such a programme to train 500 healthcare professionals to help detect and treat these cases.

Additionally, Minister Lawrence, along with the Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Country Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, as well as her department heads have met and crafted a biennial workplan for the years 2020-2021. Two specific areas outlined by the Minister were the development, implementation and training of human resources in the Guyana Health Information System, as well as ensuring that healthcare in the hinterland region is equitable and accessible to all persons who seek it.

Maternity Waiting Homes

So far, four Maternity Waiting Homes (MWH) have been established in several parts of Guyana. These Homes can be found in Suddie, Region Two; Lethem and Annai in Region Nine. In September last year another MWH was commissioned at the Indigenous Residence at Princess Street, Georgetown. The community of Moruca, Region One, will soon see the construction of one for residents there. A water ambulance has also been made available for the Moruca Sub-District in Region Nine, as well as a road ambulance for the Kumaka District Hospital.

The Mabaruma Hospital in Region One is now part of the ‘SMART Hospital’, which is a concept that is inclusive of safe, green health facilities which will guarantee effective standards that will foster excellent healthcare.

Biochemistry and hematology

Many of the regions in Guyana are now equipped with medical laboratories, which can offer on-the-spot testing. These include Barima/Waini, Region One, as well as the Moruca, Matthews Ridge, Port Kaituma and Mabaruma Regional Hospitals. Additionally, in Pomeroon/Supenaam, Region Two there are two fully-functional medical laboratories at the Suddie Regional and Charity Hospitals. In Cuyuni/Mazaruni, Region Seven, there are two main laboratories: one at the Bartica Regional Hospital and the other at Kamarang Hospital. The latter caters for residents living in the Upper- Mazaruni. Further, there is also a small satellite laboratory that provides point-of-care testing in Issano for residents of the Middle-Mazaruni.

The Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo community in Region Nine is now also benefitting from a new biochemistry and hematology analyser to boost the existing services in that area. At the same time a new medical laboratory will soon be on stream at the Lethem Regional Hospital. The Public Health Ministry launched a National Medicines Policy in November, 2019. This forms a well-thought-out document that serves to guide and regulate the procurement, storage, distributing and dispensing of the much-needed drugs and medicine utilized in the country.