Ramsammy tells Parliament…
HEALTH Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy disclosed, last  week, that the draft document to facilitate a Patients’ Charter is, currently, undergoing extensive national consultation. He made the disclosure in response to a call, in the National Assembly, from Alliance for Change (AFC) Member of Parliament  (MP), Mrs. Sheila Holder, as they both participated in the 2011 National Budget Debate.
Ramsammy added that, at end of the consultative process, the framework will be presented to the Policy Committee of the  Ministry of Health.
Holder, in her contribution, claimed that the incidents of negligence in some sections of the public health sector demands  the promulgation of a Patients’ Bill of Rights.
Ramsammy explained that the Patients’ Charter proposals was developed by the Ministry of Health in an effort to ensure that  every Guyanese, regardless of age, gender, religion, national origin, social class or geographical location, is aware of  their rights to access health care services and their rights while in the care of health professionals.
According to him, developing the documentation began with extensive research on charters available internationally and in  the Caribbean. Subsequently, the data was circulated to members of a small committee, comprising medical and legal  personnel.
A completed draft was then included in consultations with various groups.
“The Ministry of Health is committed to upholding, promoting and protecting this right and, therefore, proclaims this  Patients’ Rights Charter as a common standard for achieving the realisation of this right,” he assured.
Ramsammy observed that the work of the health workers is reflective of an ongoing success story, despite the challenges.
He maintained that the investments in health care have led to an improvement in Guyana’s life expectancy.
“It must be noted that the age group over 65 contributes, in an increasing way, to the overall death rate, as should happen  in a population whose life expectancy at birth is increasing,” Ramsammy said.
He informed that the age 65 and over accounted for 12 percent of all deaths in 1991 and that same group accounted for 22  percent in 2008, 31 percent in 2009 and 39 percent in 2010, of all deaths in Guyana.
Additionally, 50 percent of all deaths in 1991 were of people under 50 years old.

Profile shifted
“This has changed, dramatically, as the death profile shifted towards higher age groups…the under five age group accounted  for 17 percent of all deaths in 1991 and now accounts for under five percent of all deaths,” Ramsammy said.
He said, when Guyana entered the last decade of the 20th century, in 1990, the life expectancy at birth threatened to drop  below 60 years.
Ramsammy said: “A male child, born in 1990, was only expected to live up to 58 years. That age has, steadily, increased  since the early 1990s to about 70 years today. Over the last five years, life expectancy of girls has improved to about  71.5 years at birth.”
However, he said Guyana is still catching up with the Caribbean, where countries like Barbados have now achieved a life  expectancy of 78 years, with this country’s target being 75 years by 2015.
Ramsammy said health advances have led to the dramatic reduction in deaths from communicable diseases, such as diarrhoea,  respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tubercolosis (TB).
Presently, the leading causes of death are those diseases that emerge only with longer survival, such as prostate and other  forms of cancers, heart ailments and degenerative conditions, he revealed.