A SURGICAL team, arranged through public/private partnership, will be at Mabaruma, in North West District, from tomorrow to Sunday, Director of Regional Health Services (RHS), Dr. Narine Singh announced yesterday. He said this is the fourth such visit this year and the collaborations has worked well, with some 30 cases having been attended during the last outreach in Region One (Barima/Waini), including orthopaedic, gynaecology and general surgical patients.
Singh said the initiative will be used as a model in other hinterland areas where specialised skills are limited.
“Roving surgical teams of highly trained people, specialising in different ailments will serve the hinterland communities well,” he observed, noting that Lethem, in Rupununi, was the first location visited under a similar arrangement.
Mabaruma Hospital, a modern facility where the outreachers will operate from this weekend, was constructed at a cost of approximately $120M and boasts four expanded wards with 30 in-patient beds, an x-ray department, operating theatre, delivery room and other supporting facilities.
Singh said they are involved in a feasible undertaking because specialists cannot be stationed at every centre that delivers health care, due to the size of the population and logistics.
But, with roving teams, a more strategic step is taken to ensure that those areas receive every service available in the health sector, he said.
Singh said, in the first week of August, the first 2010 meeting of Regional Health Officers from the 10 Administrative Regions will be convened and other advancements will be discussed.