THE National Television Network (NTN), in collaboration with 89.1 FM Radio, on Saturday conducted a medical outreach at its Brickdam premises. 

The outreach attracted a massive turnout of enthusiastic members of the public, who were able to benefit from a wide range of much-needed medical services – free of charge.

The programme, which began at 12:00 hrs ran until 17:00hrs and provided the services of several medical doctors, in addition to nurses; a team of health care workers from the Guyana Red Cross; staff of the National Blood Bank conducting a blood transfusion drive; others manning a tuberculosis team; as well as blood pressure and blood sugar testing, among other things. Optician, Dr. Jose Da Silva also did free eye examinations.
Frederick Rampersaud, Programme Manager for 89.1 Radio and one of the organisers of the health fair, disclosed that the health fair was able to attract sponsorship from several good corporate citizens, including: overseas- based couple Rachpaul and Sandy donated equipment for blood-sugar testing, along with 1500 strips; NAMILCO; Sterling Products Ltd; New GPC; Ansa Mc Al; SVS Pharmacy; Medicare Pharmacy; Assuria Insurance Company; Survival and Mike’s Pharmacy. This made possible the acquisition of medication by persons attending the outreach.
Covering the cost of outside broadcast via Radio were Randy Persaud and staff; Connections Travel Service; Lens Optical Designers; Sterling Products Ltd. and Diamond Fire and General Insurance among others.
Meanwhile, Director of NTN Channel 69, Mr. Bram Persaud, told the Guyana Chronicle that the initiative was launched in response to feedback from viewers and callers to NTN and 89.1 FM Radio, who would regularly call in seeking advice on medical issues. Even though guests on the programme are invariably in a position to give those answers, because of time constraints, answers have to be kept short. Also, not all callers would be lucky to get through to the programme moderator before the programme comes to an end.
It is with this in mind that the medical outreach was conceptualised, Persaud said. And better still, it gave the public an opportunity to be tested on the spot for various health conditions, as well as to receive treatment where necessary.

Further, it afforded them a chance to have one- on-one discussions with health care providers on issues of concern to them. In the event a case could not be dealt with at the outreach, referrals were done to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation or district health centres.

(By Shirley Thomas)