LIMITED access to space and lack of equipment are major issues affecting the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, East Bank Demerara, even as administrators seeks to reduce the number of patient referrals to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Medical Superintendent, Dr. Maitee Camacho Vazquez expressed these sentiments when the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services visited the health institution on Thursday.
The visit sought to examine and observe the operational procedures of the diagnostic centre and the conditions under which patients are treated.
The parliamentary committee headed by PPP parliamentarian, Dr Vindhya Vasini Persaud, comprised Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman; Minister within the Ministry of Indegenous People’s Affairs,Valerie Garrido-Lowe; Minister within the Public Health Ministry, Dr Karen Cummings; Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Valarie Patterson,and other PPP Parliamentarians, namely Indranie Chandarpal, Alister Charlie and Vishwa Mahadeo.
Responding to the committee’s questions, Dr. Vazquez explained that the centre caters for some 80,000 persons on the East Bank, also reaching as far as communities on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and Timehri.
Between the Linden Hospital and GPHC, more than 100km apart, the Diamond Centre is the only major health facility that could be accessed.
“Our biggest need is space,” the medical superintendent said, explaining that the centre has to tend to persons on the East Bank Demerara,and since the facility would only transfer certain cases, it means they would have to provide the service.
The doctor explained that a plan is in place where on specified days she would send out her available doctors to health centres such as Grove, Kuru Kururu and Herstelling, among other areas, to see patients, thus reducing the number of patients that actually go to the centre.
Outside of this, Dr. Vazquez said the centre has been working to be resolute with its services and to reduce the number of referrals to the GPHC, although it does not conduct deliveries and major surgeries.
It was highlighted that the majority of trauma cases coming to the centre are accident related, and serious cases are generally referred to the GPHC since the relevant equipment, particularly for head trauma, is not available at the Diamond Centre.
The centre also has no space to house patients and that too contributes to the number of referrals, Dr Vazquez said.
The doctor is hoping that in the coming years, consideration will be given to significantly expand the centre given the wide area it serves.
As it relates to drug availability, Dr. Vazquez told the committee that the centre has had drug shortages, but it was not bad enough to jeopardise the functioning of the facility.
“We have some issues with [Materials Management Unit] MMU because they do not have all the medicine.”
The doctor,however,noted that where a specific medication is unavailable, a substitute is used.
She explained that there are medication for surgeries and other treatments, but in cases of non-communicable diseases, these items are “up and down.”
Construction work is ongoing at the centre, and this too has contributed to a reduction in surgeries and an increase in the referrals to GPHC.
Prior to the construction, four surgeries were conducted daily but this has now been reduced to two, and in some cases, three.