MINISTER of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, acknowledging that there have been unfortunate instances of maternal deaths, has given the assurance that the ministry has improved its delivery of maternal health and every such death is investigated.

He said the Ministry has examined its perceived weaknesses, responded to comments by the professionals and taken the necessary measures to address them.
Speaking at a Thursday press conference, he confirmed that one of the major causes of maternal deaths is haemorrhaging and said the ministry has taken steps to make sure the Blood Bank is well serviced.
Ramsaran said the Ministry has also been sending out its senior officials to make more frequent visits to major hospitals and facilities and those officials have been responding to public complaints and concerns.
He noted that Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) is now having strengthened leadership and, within a short space of time, the ministry is already seeing the difference.
The West Demerara Regional Hospital, for instance, is way above the standard at which it used to function only a few weeks ago and Diamond Hospital is also functioning well above what previously obtained, because the Ministry has been able to attract doctors who work during the day at the health centres and on a scheduled basis at the hospital.
The Minister revealed that the Diamond Hospital now has a Guyanese doctor and more Guyanese doctors are scheduled to perform duties there, whereas Cuban doctors predominated before.

Upgrading
Ramsaran said the Ministry has been upgrading all the doctors returning from Cuba through a programme called the Advanced Labour Risk Management (ALARM), which develops on the basis of their training as doctors and points out some of their frequently made mistakes. It is facilitated by the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO).
The Minister said this year has seen hundreds of outreach programmes, far outweighing what occurred last year and the previous year.
He said comprehensive teams have been going into more communities, meeting more people and taking very specialised service to the people.
In one instance, an outreach in Wales, West Bank Demerara saw 15,000 people involved in interaction and 3,000 receiving clinical assistance, dental treatment, eye care and general check-ups.
He said the ministry has been having more and more interventions jointly with the Private Sector entities such as Qualfon and Laparkan, as well as faith-based organisations.
Good work has also been done in dentistry and Ramsaran said the Ministry has been able to send out a dental team with very good cooperation and support from the Rotary Club of Georgetown, for which he thanked them publicly.
He said the Ministry intends to open some health centres beyond the regular 08:00 hrs to 16:00 hrs working time, to, probably until 18:00hrs or 20:00hrs.
He said the eye care teams have already started visiting homes and offering free services, with Cuban specialists at Diamond, Suddie and, predominantly, at Port Mourant.
But, while some will stay in the hospitals, others will go with their specialised kits and equipment to the homes of persons, noting that Cuban eye specialists are doing quiet work in Guyana without any praise.