Emergency Medicine is a specialty that cheats death-US medical expert

FOLLOWING three years of intense training both in Guyana and the United States of America, Guyanese Dr. Zulfikar Bux is now the Head of the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital and specialist in the area of Emergency Medicine(emergency response and treatment).

Dr. Bux has received his training from senior health professionals and specialists of the Vanderbilt Emergency Centre in Tennessee, USA. Yesterday, Dr. Zulfikar Bux was introduced to members of the media and was flanked by members of the Vanderbilt Emergency Centre, who were present to see him assume his role as the only such trained person working in the public health sector.
The new GPHC Head of Accident and Emergency will now be an all rounder and will coordinate the activities of the A and E department and later down the line, the response to accidents and other emergency scenes outside of the hospital.
“Emergency Medicine is a specialty that cheats death,” remarked Dr. Corey Slovis, Chairman of the Vanderbilt Emergency Centre in Tennessee.
The training began in 2010 following an arrangement between the GPHC, University of Guyana, Vanderbilt Emergency Centre in Tennessee, Ministry of Health of Guyana and some support from the University of the West Indies.

The need for the introduction of emergency medicine specialists within the local health system was realised in 2010 and sponsorship was sought and the training commenced. At the moment there are eleven Guyanese who are being trained with the first batch of four graduating next year November.
The long term aim of this new initiative is to address the coordination and response to accidents and other emergency outside of the accident and Emergency Room. Come next year February there will be a pilot of the response to emergency with ambulances responding to emergencies with trained medical professional on-board.
The aim is to ensure the stabilizing of the patients and ensuring that lives are preserved and injured persons are properly taken care of between the points of moving from an accident or other emergency scenes to the Accident and Emergency room.

(By Leroy Smith)