At stakeholders workshop…
HEALTH Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said, yesterday, that while the support of international partners, including Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), is much appreciated, those agencies must be fair and respect Guyana and its workers in the sector. He expressed the view while speaking at the Maternal and Child Health/Expanded Programme on Immunisation annual review workshop, in Regency Suites Hotel on Hadfield Street, Georgetown, where the participants included representatives of PAHO, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other stakeholders.

Ramsammy declared that, when it comes to reviews being done, formulas developed by partners are not better than the actual on-the-ground information.

“Know your facts before you publish. Never, at the worst time in our history, was there ever 75 maternal deaths in one year,” he informed.

Ramsammy observed that the actual reality of the health sector’s position, progress and challenges, is misrepresented and is a show of “utter disrespect” for a country.

He explained that some agencies’ representatives have disputed the data collated by local health workers but he challenged them to bring to light such a case.

“Until you do that, use my data. This disrespect must stop. Refusing to accept our data is absolutely wrong. Our health workers work hard. If there is a problem with the data, come and show us,” Ramsammy invited, as he announced that a meeting with the representatives of several international agencies supporting Guyana’s health sector is expected some time next week.

He said Guyanese public health stakeholders want the same thing and so “we must move forward together.”

ACCOUNTABLE
Ramsammy acknowledged that international agencies have always and still call for their beneficiaries to be accountable but said the former, too, have a responsibility to be accountable.
In that context, he said the ultimate goal in the health care sector is 100 percent success, because anything else puts people at risk.

He said 2011 should be a year that returns the health sector to the trajectory of 2009, on target to meet the set goals.

The targeted child mortality is 16 per 1,000 by 2015 and, for maternal mortality, is eight per 10,000 deliveries within the same time.

Ramsammy said, in the realm of child health, Guyana is regarded as a pioneering country for universal access to all relevant vaccines.

The minister reiterated the need for a return to the trajectory, marking significant and consistent improvements in health care and said that should be the first order of business for 2011.

Director of the Maternal Child and Health Care Department, Dr. Janice Woolford, accepting the challenge, gave the assurance of confronting it and pursuing the successes seen in maternal health care in 2009.

The workshop reviewed different aspects of maternal health care delivery and provided the platform for feedback, all in the interest of coming to a consensus on the way forward this year.