THE Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Dalhousie University and CHIMO Crisis Services of Vancouver, both in Canada, concluded its crisis hotline training on Tuesday.
As a result, Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said the Ministry will officially inaugurate the source of communication in four months, once everything is in place for its full operation.
In a statement to the media, he disclosed that approximately 11 persons from the Ministry and Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) were trained as the core group to operate the system and they will be expected to begin the pilot phase  scheduled for September 2010 to June 2011.
According to the statement, during that phase, collaboration will be sought with the University of Guyana (UG) to have the Communication, Social Work and Health Sciences students function as volunteers as part of the requirement for completion of their respective programmes.
The targeted students are required to be attached to a community or voluntary service during their period of study.
Additionally, the statement said the draft policies and procedures, which will govern the crisis hotline, have been completed and will be finalised over the next two weeks, by experts from Dalhousie in Halifax, Canada.
“A complete manual that will govern the training for and operation of the hotline will also be drafted and finalised by the end of this week. This initiative will be undertaken by the core group of operators for the hotline and our experts from the CHIMO Crisis Services in Vancouver. An application form for potential volunteers has been drafted and will also be finalised within the next week,” it said.
The statement explained that, with the completion of the training, the Ministry of Health is in a better position to respond to various social determinants that affect health, particularly those that contribute to violence, domestic and sexual abuse, alcoholism and those conditions that result in suicide attempts.
“This initiative is specifically in response to the public health scourge of suicide,” it added.