Guyana’s health sector will be further boosted as a batch of 69 final year medical students sat their final examinations, and Junior Health Minister, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, assured that their deployment was being finalised.

Dr Manuel Perez, Head of the Cuban Medical Teaching Programme.

The tests took place yesterday at Queen’s College, and the students were required to answer multiple choice questions, affix ‘true’ or ‘false’ to statements and give a diagnosis based on a given scenario.

Post examination, the students will be given a month’s vacation after which they will begin their stints with the Government of Guyana.

According to Ramsaran, the new skills will be used primarily at the diagnostic centres across the country but he assured that regional hospitals will also get their quota of skills.

Before the stints begin, a graduation ceremony is expected to be held sometime in August to mark the long years of hard work and successes.

A section of the students sitting their finals.

The road to success began when the prospective doctors left Guyana’s shores and spent six years in Cuba pursuing studies in various disciplines.

These disciplines included general medicine, internal medicine, paediatrics and family health, among others.

The students’ seventh and final year was spent here so they could reacquaint themselves with the system and people.

This was a necessary step, according to the Head of the Cuban Medical Teaching Programme, Dr Manuel Perez.

In addition to Perez, who is a full professor, there are 28 instruction professors, nine assistant professors and six associate professors who assisted the students in the completion of their final year.

Perez feels that the addition of skills to the health sector would indeed improve Guyana’s health care system as well as the delivery of health care services.

Mr. Fareez Khan, one of the students, feels that they would serve the health sector well.

“Our input will better the health care system and will add to what others are doing. It is a team effort,” he posited.

Khan stated that their roles are simply to promote health and employ preventative measures with regard to chronic illnesses, as they are trained in primary healthcare.

Another student, studying general medicine, Mr. Mahendra Karan, echoed his peer’s thoughts and added that his input would begin with community service.

Karan proudly explained that he is the first doctor in his family and would be serving his family and community in the beginning.

He also said, “As with any system, the health sector has room for improvement, and that is where we come in.”