– …advances in services provided to improve delivery of health care
BALWANT Singh Hospital, a young private health care delivery institution, has made significant advances in the past six years, more recently with its comprehensive kidney management programme.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle, a urologist from the hospital, Dr. Vineet Naja, said it is one of the most advanced private health care institutions in Guyana, with modern technology to ensure quality health care for patients at a cost that is lower than elsewhere in the Caribbean.
He explained that the services provided at the hospital are done so at the fraction of the cost available in the Caribbean and the United States.
He added that the facility is expected to further advance its operations with time, a sentiment reiterated by two other senior members of staff, physician, Dr. Ashish Chevan, and anesthesiologist, Dr. Amit Verma.
“It is about teamwork, the progress we have made is a team effort,” Naja said.

First Kidney Transplant

Testimony to the focus on moving forward as a team was the recent successful completion of the hospital’s first kidney transplant.
The surgery was a collaborative undertaking between the private sector and well-known philanthropist, Mr. George Subraj, from the diaspora.
At a cost of some $30,000, 34-year-old Gopienauth Rampersaud was able to receive a kidney from his brother, 32-year-old, Kapildeo Rampersaud.
The surgery was done Friday last by Dr. Rahul Jindall, who is a volunteer part of Subraj’s team.
Through the initiative was made possible largely with the support of the volunteer team, in particular Dr. Jindall, the team at the Balwant Singh Hospital is expected to be able to handle operations on their own in time.
When the Guyana Chronicle visited the brothers at the hospital yesterday, they were both doing well. The donor was discharged yesterday and the recipient is expected to leave the facility in two days’ time.
The brothers are from Corriverton in Region Six (East Berbice/ Corentyne) and, in an invited comment, Subraj said they were one of 60 other persons that the team met with during its outreach here.
“We are hoping to come every six or eight weeks…apart from education, religion and art, health is a main area where we give support,” he said.
The philanthropist noted that a large portion of the costs will be covered through his commitment to the Balwant Singh Hospital, but said the patient is being asked to contribute a fraction of the cost, some $1M (US$5,000).
Subraj also lauded the support of the Government of Guyana and pointed out Junior Health Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsarran, gave a commitment to ensure that the kidney transplant patients are given the medication they need for the rest of their lives, since after a transplant the patient needs to be on medication for life.
“This is a big thing, because the medications are expensive, but we are thankful that we have the support of the government,” he said.

Non-communicable diseases

To this end, he said that an area his team is focusing on is prevention through education.

Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has said publicly that chronic non-communicable diseases are essentially lifestyle diseases, since they correlate with changing lifestyles and Guyanese need to make changes and focus on healthy living.
Ramsammy contends that this can be done in five simple steps: eat healthy, control portions, check health, be happy, and be active.
Chronic non-communicable diseases are ravaging the world, not only Guyana, and a staggering two out of three deaths occurring in persons younger than 70 years result from a chronic disease.
Chronic non-communicable diseases today account for about 60 percent of morbidity and mortality in the Caribbean, producing major suffering and costs for individuals, families, governments, and businesses. Chronic diseases have a disproportionate impact on the poor, further exacerbating health inequities.
Additionally, only recently, the Guyana Kidney Foundation was launched and represented a major step forward – and a good addition to the other interventions made to date – to ensure that those suffering from renal diseases have better access to the life- saving services they need.
Prior to this initiative, the public health sector in Guyana provided a comprehensive set of renal diagnostic and treatment services for free, including peritoneal dialysis. But other services for End-Stage Renal Diseases, such as dialysis and transplant services, had to be accessed through a public private partnership.
Guyana is supported by various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as the Three Rivers Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to helping sick children in Guyana whose parents are too poor to afford medical care.
The Government of Guyana has succeeded to change the situation where, before 2006, all of these services had to be obtained abroad.
Now some of the dialysis services can be obtained in Guyana and a few kidney transplant operations have been done in Guyana also. But mainly, transplant operations are done in India and some of the patients are able to access dialysis in Trinidad and Barbados.
Statistics from the Health Ministry indicate that over 200 Guyanese at any one time are at risk of dying because they suffer from renal failure and are in need of dialysis, but with the advances being made, the scope of health care delivery continues to improve.