MINISTER within the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, following a complaint, by the Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) Health Committee, that nurses there were showing an unbecoming attitude, has urged Chief Nurse Tarmattie Barker to ensure that they understand they are damaging the profession. The Minister, after the issue was raised by Mr. Byron Lewis, of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), at a meeting Monday, said senior nurses, led by Chairperson of the Health Committee, Mrs. Esther Lynch-Bobb, should work with the Regional Health Officer (RHO), Mrs. Pansy Armstrong, to deal with the situation in which doctors are being bullied by nurses.
Ramsaran advised that means be established by which patients can quickly relay their complaints to the hospital authorities and assured that he would request the technical persons to pull the files and look at them.
He said a mechanism for customer satisfaction must be put in place and suggested the Committee consider whether nurses need additional training or lectures on ethics.
Ramsaran said: “A nurse, by training, cannot change a doctor’s recommendations without consultation. This is a serious breach if it is being done.”
Also speaking in the Linden Hospital Complex boardroom, Regional Executive Officer of Region Ten, Mr. Henry Rodney agreed that a complaints system be inaugurated and an internal mechanism created for improvement.
He said unannounced walkthroughs are very effective and recommended that the senior officers visit the various health centres for that purpose.
Armstrong told Minister Ramsaran there is need for more doctors in the Region, especially those who are experienced and can manage on their own.
She said the hospital, presently, only has four Cuban and four local doctors but Ramsaran explained that the Ministry is starting work on a number of health buildings so that more doctors can be sent to the Regions.
He requested that a list of needs for a doctor’s residence be sent to the Ministry, as a significant amount of money is being spent on furnishing for such houses for doctors who will be managed by the Linden Hospital Complex.

APARTMENTS

Another suggestion from Ramsaran is that a sub-committee be formed immediately to identify additional apartments to accommodate doctors and, working closely with Rodney, set time lines and be task oriented.
Ramsaran announced that a second surgeon will be posted to Linden shortly and a specialised training programme for nurses commenced soon.
“We have a lot of doctors coming into the system, so outreaches will, significantly, increase,” he said, adding that a batch of more doctors would be dispatched as soon as the accommodation for them is available.
Medical Superintendent at the Linden Hospital, Dr. Mohamed Riyasat said he plans to establish several teams to concentrate not only on health care at the institution but to visit various health centres, as well.
In that way, he said the doctors will be in a position to transfer their knowledge and skills to the medexes and, at the same time, reach out to communities.
However, that arrangement will require a few more doctors.
Riyasat mentioned, too, that junior doctors will undergo training to be able to manage patients adequately and teams of doctors would be scheduled for health centres.
According to him, Kwakwani Hospital will have two doctors and a medex and a second ambulance, in three weeks.
He assured that patients would not have to endure long waits at the hospital as several doctors are working on a daily basis in the accident and emergency unit.
Riyasat said the Upper Demerara Hospital has two general practitioners who work full time and there are a number of specialised clinics at the Linden Hospital, too.
Ramsaran encouraged the Chief Nurse Barker to begin identifying the nurses who can be sent for superior training and exhorted the Region be innovative with its budget and not miss opportunities to have those individuals trained in Georgetown.
Barker was assigned a vehicle and a driver to take her to the various health centres to deal with garbage and other issues that may arise.
Lynch- Bobb said another issue plaguing the Linden Hospital is that nurses are not being appointed to senior positions but Ramsaran pointed out that promotions are not controlled by his ministry and the Committee should contact the relevant agency.

VISITS

According to him, during the recent Cabinet Outreach, residents complained that the regional health team hardly conducted visits to the communities and tasked the committee to rectify this communication problem, so that no community must lament irregular visitations.
Ramsaran said it was also reported that there have been cases of malaria for which no medicine was available and he ordered an investigation into the report, even though he said he found it hard to believe.
He said one more complaint was that there was not enough gasolene for medical outreaches and Armstrong confirmed that fuel has always been a problem, as the Region does not an get an adequate quantity.
Henry observed that people make it a practice to utilise resources belonging to the Government for various purposes and he called for reports to account for the use.
Ramsaran responded that patients punish when workers are lazy while the Government suffers political embarrassment.
He said, many times, drugs are dispatched without consumption reports being presented.
A separate meeting was held with the doctors where Ramsaran informed them that many more trained Guyanese will be returning from Cuba  and commended them for doing a good job under hard conditions.