THROUGH a collaborative effort between the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the Atlantic Emergency Medical Service, 80 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), along with nurses from the GPHC and the West Demerara Regional Hospital benefited from a one-week training programme in emergency medicine.At a graduation ceremony yesterday at the Project Dawn Medical Centre, Liliendaal, the participants received their certificates.

The training programme focused on trauma and nursing care, along with disaster medicine, Dan Batsie, head of the Atlantic Emergency Medical Service training explained.
He expressed gratitude for being able to assist Guyana, noting that the occasion also provided a chance for six of his paramedic students who are part of the eight-member visiting team to have a feel of what EMT is like in another country.
Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, Director of Accident and Emergency, GPHC, pointed out that the two collaborating bodies share a long history, since it is not the first time that Guyana benefited from assistance from the Atlantic Emergency Medical Service.
He added that the EMS service is designed to provide emergency medical response for patients who are in need of urgent medical care, before actually making it to the hospital. It is administered by EMTs who are specially trained to deliver emergency medical care to patients on scene and en route to the hospital. These individuals are tasked with the responsibility of retrieving patients and delivering them to the emergency room in a safe, efficient and timely manner.
The service, which was established in February 2014, with guidance from Dr Zulfikar Bux at the hospital, has thus far seen the team responding to more than 3,000 emergencies.
According to Dr. Bux, this batch of technicians is the first in a pilot project that aims to have a national emergency medical response service set up at the country’s five main hospitals, and possibly across the country. This pilot initiative will gradually expand in phases to the different regions.
He added that the major goal is to have a national EMS body that controls the daily operations of such services in Guyana.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer, GPHC, Michael Khan, also expressed gratitude to the visiting team for their undertaking.
Mr. Khan also pointed out that the National EMS body is being housed at Project Dawn, which means that the EMTs will no longer function from the GPHC, but rather from a more independent facility.
He also thanked all the participants for attending the training sessions.
Also, communication is a key aspect of any response system, so a dispatch system is currently being developed, and will be a part of the National EMS body’s housing unit.

The current EMS comprises a total of 20 individuals and two ambulances.
Also with efforts being made to expand this system, earlier this year, Dr. Bux had pointed out that medical evacuation is a very important area, especially with regard to response to accidents in the hinterland. Hence, work is being conducted to develop a Medivac (medical evacuation) response system to have a timelier and more efficient evacuation system.
This project has received tremendous support from the Morris Foundation in the United States and the Vanderbilt Medical Center. The latter, which is renowned for being one of the best emergency hospitals in the U.S., has been collaborating with the Ministry of Public Health and the GPHC to develop emergency medicine in Guyana. They have thus far trained three specialist emergency doctors and are expected to graduate 12 others over the next three years.
These doctors are expected to continue the development of emergency medicine so that specialised emergency medical care will become accessible to Guyanese.
A number of persons have been trained as EMTs under this pilot; these include persons from the Guyana Police Force, Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Fire Service, along with medical personnel from across the country.