NEWLY appointed Minister of Health, Dr. George Norton, has unveiled his plans for improving the public health sector, while positing that an increase in the health budget is needed for further development of the sector.Speaking in an exclusive interview yesterday with the Guyana Chronicle in his office at the Ministry of Health, Brickdam, Minister Norton highlighted some of the strategies which will be undertaken, so that gaps within the health sector could be filled and further development could take place under the new administration.
The sector he noted is one which needs improvements, therefore, they will be taking different approaches to make such improvements. One of the first factors which the minister emphasised could be worked on is the physical infrastructure of hospitals and health centres.
“Gone are the days when we should talk about wooden buildings; we are in an age where buildings ought to be made from the best materials and concrete so that the physical structure alone could attract persons to utilise the services of the public health care facilities instead of using private ones,” he said.
Some of the infrastructural improvements he stated will include the refurbishing of small health care centres across Guyana, making them more spacious and comfortable for patients, which will in turn unburden the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), because more persons will use these facilities right in their areas instead of travelling from there to the GPHC, unless it is extremely necessary.
Further development of these health-care facilities he stated, will include the procurement of equipment and instruments so that these services can be highly efficient. He lamented that they will also be improving the ambulance system, so that there can be more ambulances to move from place to place, faster.
While gathering the necessary apparatus is necessary, Dr. Norton made it clear that, “We will also improve our accountability at the ministry, because we receive many donations from Non-Governmental Organisations and sometimes they return and ask to see the stuff that were given to us, therefore, accountability is a major factor which will be improved.”
TRAINING OF PERSONNEL
Meanwhile, apart from that “As we intend to improve the infrastructure and acquire more equipment and such, we must also train the personnel to man these medical centres, not only with their initial duties, but also with proper work ethics so that patients using these facilities can receive proper treatment and hospitality from the staffers, disclosed the minister.
Apart from the basic ethics, he alluded to the fact that there will also be directors of medical services, who will be in charge of the health centres, ensuring that there are fewer or no discrepancies, and patients are treated in the right manner.
Moving away from that aspect of training, he stated that more students will be sent abroad on scholarship programmes to countries who have maintained strong ties with Guyana when it comes to this sector. Some of these countries include, Cuba, China, some parts of Latin America and India, along with other countries.
The minister disclosed that he recently met with the Indonesian ambassador and proposed to him the establishment of a scholarship programme.
The scholarship programmes, he noted, is one of the better initiatives of the past administration which will be retained and will continue to thrive under the current administration, because, “Yes, foreign doctors play a major role in Guyana’s medical sector, but when our own Guyanese are trained they can make their own contributions to the health system and also help in training other local doctors.”
Aside from international training, Dr. Norton made mention to the fact that they will be hosting a number of workshops for health workers, so as to also keep the knowledge of local nurses, medical technicians and so forth, flowing.
DRUG SHORTAGES & WASTAGE
During the interview, the minister pointed out that a major factor affecting the sector is “expired drugs and near expired drugs.” This, he noted, is a problem which they will look to resolve as soon as possible.
“When drugs were recently purchased from private distributors, they were bought at a cheap price mainly because the drugs were almost expired,” he highlighted.
This practice he noted will be abolished, as they will allocate contracts to distributors so as to have an efficient system when it comes to distribution and purchasing of these medical drugs.
VECTOR AND DISEASE CONTROL
As it strives to develop the health sector, the ministry will not look past the vector and disease control unit, as the minister announced that they intend to put more funding into these units because the personnel from these departments do all the ground work and so forth, therefore, materials and means of transportation are a “must have” for the staffers.
“The vector-borne diseases such as malaria, filaria and others are under control, as the general public has to be congratulated for their clean-up efforts over the past few days, because this has been a major contributor to the reduction of these diseases…this initiative is one which I would love to see continue,” said the Health Minister.
With reference to the factors mentioned along with many others, these he noted are reasons why an increase in the budgetary allocations for the health sector is needed, so that development of the health sector could continue.

By Navendra Seoraj