THE Malaria Clinic located in the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, has improved its service quality over the past couple of months with a numbering system and new patients’ charts, says head of the Vector Control Services of the Ministry of Health, Dr Reyaud Rahaman.

The Malaria Clinic which can be accessed from the Middle Street entrance sees over 100 patients per day. And some patients have complained over and over about the long waiting period at the clinic, but Dr Rahaman explained that patients do not always understand the process that is required so that they can get accurate results.
While acknowledging that sometimes it can be a long process, he pointed out that they have improved their quality of service over the past couple of months with their numbering system and new patients’ charts.
The Guyana Chronicle took some time to visit the clinic to see the process of detecting whether an individual has the malaria virus or not.
When a patient arrives at the clinic, they have to do registration which includes the nurse taking their names, ages, last location they have been and what are the symptoms they are experiencing. A blood sample is also taken during the registration period.
The blood sample is then sent to the lab technician where it goes through a drying process, if necessary. A fixer  film solution is then added to the blood and placed on the staining rack to be dried for another 10 minutes. After this process, the technician then checks back the blood sample number to make sure they are coherent with the patient’s number.
After the drying process, the sample or samples are examined under the microscope to see if the patient has the malaria virus in their blood. After the result has been obtained, it is recorded on the patient’s form and sent to the Medex on duty.
At the Medex station the patient form will be reviewed and the Medex will have a chat with the patient on what he/she needs to do. The prescription of the Medex, of course, will depend on whether the person has malaria or not.
If the patient does have malaria, the Medex will write up the prescription for the patient and the amount of tablets that he or she needs to take.  Then the patient will go over to the pharmacy and collect their tablets.
Dr. Rahaman said that the process is to ensure that the patient receives an accurate diagnosis. However, he noted that they are always reviewing the system to see how best they can improve it and make it faster.
Guyana was listed in Phase Two, which is the malaria control phase, alongside Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, according to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).