Through USAID assistance…
GUYANA now has a standard treatment guide (STG) for primary health care and  Minister with the portfolio, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, said it is a major step to improve the delivery and meeting the goal of health for all.
The STG was made public yesterday at a ceremony at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown, made possible through support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The documentation outlines the procedures for addressing approximately 60 diseases, including prescriptions for medication.
Ramsammy, in remarks on the occasion, explained that its provisions have already been rolled out in the local health care system, making it a live document rather than an ornament on a bookshelf.
He said it will be updated periodically and, currently, a supplement is in the making to give consideration to diseases like cholera, which is causing havoc in Haiti and may come back to haunt the Guyanese people.
There was an outbreak here in 1992 but Guyana managed to overcome it.
Ramsammy said there is a feedback mechanism which would aid continuous reviews and advance more change in the health sector.
According to him, the compilation reiterates the present Administration’s commitment to deliver quality health care to the Guyanese population.
He said the STG ensures:
* the provision of essential supplies, such as oral rehydration solution (ORS), which, if not available, represents a breakdown of management;
* laboratory support, for example the need for pregnancy tests and every woman of reproductive age should be able to access such testing and
* support to test blood glucose, among other substances.
Acting USAID Mission Director, Mr. William Gelman, agreed that the STG is an asset to Guyana’s health care system, as it would assist in bolstering the provision of services and affect improvements in the 350 health care facilities in this country.
Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Narine Singh said, of those facilities, the ones in the Georgetown district and Mabaruma sub-district have already derived benefit from training, as it relates to the implementation of the STG.

SIMILAR TRAINING

He also disclosed that 58 Cuban doctors serving here have also undergone similar training.
Singh said Regions One (Barima/Waini), Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) will complete the training by year end and health workers in the remaining seven regions would be trained by the end of the first quarter in 2011.
The Ministry began  training since September, he said.
A consultant with the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) Project, funded under the United States (U.S.) President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Guyanese Dr. Claudette Harry concurred that the STG is a good reference for health workers.
She is also in the working group who assisted in its development and pointed out that the initiative began in September 2007 when an oversight committee was established to set, review, write, introduce, monitor and assist with implementing the guidelines.
Harry said the STG will, aside from improving the delivery of health care, have educational value and guide the procurement of medical supplies, because, as part of it, there is a standardised system for writing prescriptions, which includes the type of medications used.
Chief Medical Officer and Chair of the working group, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud observed that, over the years, different practitioners used a wide variety of methods to treat similar cases.
He said the numerous variations were based on personal experiences of the doctor or health worker, the availability of resources and the difference in training.
Persaud confirmed that the STG brings into line the variations and, by extension, improves the care which the Guyanese people access in the public health sector.