Linden Hospital Complex now has enough midwives
UPPER Demerara River Hospital at Wismar now has a functioning maternity ward, after nearly five years.
It follows the posting of an adequate number of midwives to both the Mackenzie and Wismar Hospitals of Linden Hospital Complex (LHC).
Chief Executive Officer of the LHC, Mr. Gordon Gumbs, who made the disclosure, said, the ward at Wismar was opened at the end of January because it is an important complement to the one at Mackenzie.
He said the decision was made after he observed that the Mackenzie ward has limited capacity, in terms of the number of beds.
Gumbs said, at full capacity, only about 12 beds are at Mackenzie and, at any one time, there are between 18 and 20 patients to be accommodated.
“In fact, the maternity ward is, usually, the busiest in the entire hospital,” he explained.
He said the staff was inadequate because,  between 2004 and 2005, most of the midwives left when England was actively and aggressively recruiting nursing skills and tutors were not exempt from the recruitment.
Gumbs said, as a result, midwives, registered nurses and tutors left in large numbers and there was a rapid turnover of staff at the nursing school.
He said the overseas recruitment drive attracted most of the midwives who were, in fact, the most marketable ones.
Gumbs said, after those departures,  the LHC had to wait until it could have generated enough midwives for both Mackenzie and Wismar hospitals, to deliver on a 24-hour basis.
“You have to have enough people to work the three shifts and then cater for those who are on off duty and so on. We had to wait until some of them got the necessary experience to be on their own. So, even though some of them graduated last year, we could not put them at Wismar immediately,” he explained.
Gumbs said, over the years, the LHC has been training nurses from Regions Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) as well as Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice).
He said they intensified training, to include the post basic midwifery programme, which had, as participants, people who would have completed the registered staff nurse training and became registered nurses.
In addition, Gumbs said Government had to implement another programme called ‘single trained’ midwifery, for those who did not have the qualification but were sent on the course to complete it as quickly as possible.
He said the primary reason for its introduction was to train people for the riverine and interior areas which were without experienced personnel.