TWENTY-NINE newly trained and qualified medexes will be integrated into the local health system by year end, Chief Medex, Mr. Baldeo James disclosed yesterday. In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, at the Ministry of Health in Brickdam, Georgetown, he said the trainees will emerge from the New Pathway Medex Training Programme, which facilitates persons without prior nursing experience.
The duration of 42 months is more than twice as long as its predecessor, that lasted 18 months,  with the aim of increasing medical personnel at community health care facilities.
James said the revamped course will now cater for recent high school graduates who possess the University of Guyana entrance requirements.
He said the selection criteria are passes in five subjects at Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) tests, Mathematics and English included, without any nursing experience.
James said the changes were necessary as a result of the depleted nurses population from the previous programme, for which trainees were required to possess a nursing background.
He said, before now, becoming a medex prior to the new course meant that the individual had to be of average age 30, taking into account training and experience. But, with the revised curriculum, medexes are qualifying at 21.
“This provides more scope for that individual to improve on his or her qualification in the medical field,” James posited.
He said anticipated setback for younger graduates would be the reduction in the patients’ comfort level, as they, normally, consider the medexes’ age somewhat reflective of their capabilities.
Amply trained
In light of that, James assured that the emerging health care providers are amply trained and exposed to an extensive syllabus, including medicine, surgery, public health, midwifery and maternal and child care.
“This new programme embodies everything in the syllabus. The graduates will participate in the rotation at hospitals and work along with experienced persons after completing the course,” he explained.
Addressing concerns over the response to the revised and restructured training regimen, James pointed out that an increasing number of young persons have already indicated their interest in enrolling for the next course.
“We have been interacting with the present group quite frequently during their course and their response has been good. A lot of young persons are also eager to get into the programme. They see it as a stepping stone to higher achievements,” he said.
James said the communications aspect of the course will be quite beneficial to the imminent health care providers, as it prepares them to function in the environment and trains them to ask the pertinent questions using the best approach.
“There is no specified course that addresses attitudinal development but these emerging medexes will change holistically, working together to achieve one objective,” he asserted.
James said, after the 29 trainees have graduated, a review and assessment would be done to ascertain the success of the Ministry of Health pilot programme.
According to him, there will be a careful analysis of the initiative to identify shortcomings and make recommendations.
He said, two months ago, the Ministry invited a consultant from Brazil to do a preliminary assessment and, following the outcome, the Ministry will conduct its own analysis to determine whether the 42 months training is sufficient.
The fist group of 29 will be writing their final examinations in a matter of weeks, before being dispatched to various centres across the Regions of Guyana.