–as overseas-based doctors take medical outreach to Fyrish

THE Guyana Medical Mission on Sunday commenced its 12th annual medical outreach with activities at the Fyrish Health Centre.

That event saw hundreds of Fyrish residents and residents of other nearby communities being administered care in diabetes, hypertension and other ailments.
The medical team consisted of four Guyanese, two Jamaicans, one Barbadian, two Nigerians, one Grenadian, and five Americans specialists in various fields, such as: Obstetrics/Gynecology, Orthopedics, Hematology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Pediatrics as well as General Surgery.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Head of the Medical Mission, Dr. James Cort, who specialises in Internal Medicine, explained that the team is not funded by any organisation but does the visits out of their own pockets as their way of giving back to the community as well as the country.

The team has been providing quality medical care, free of cost, to Guyanese and residents of other Caribbean countries for numerous years, as part of the Caribbean Medical Mission.
But after realising that Guyana needed much more help than it was receiving at the time, Dr. Cort and Dr. Saunders, who died recently, decided to form the Guyana Medical Mission, which made its first official visit here in 2005.

Since then, Dr. Cort and his teammates have made it their duty to come every year, except 2006, taking care of their own airfares and personal expenses, and shipping most of the medical equipment they would need for the duration of the outreaches ahead of their planned visits. Medication is usually provided for the various sites from funds raised by residents of the communities in the Diaspora.
The team collaborates and works in tandem with the Ministry of Public Heath, referring patients for follow-up visits or surgery.

At the Fyrish outreach, eight doctors started working from 07:00hrs until 18:00hrs, and treated several hundred patients, including some serious cases that had to be referred to the New Amsterdam Hospital for observation, follow-up treatment and surgery.
The rest of the 15-member team were at the New Amsterdam Hospital, where they have been since they arrived on Friday, treating patients and doing surgery.
The Mission expects to wrap up their visit this weekend, after holding outreaches in Manchester on Monday; at Belladrum in West Berbice today; and at East La Penitence on Friday.

Dr. Cort explained that the communities in which the outreaches are held are communities which they have started with and continue to visit annually, since the only way to make a difference is by following up.
“We don’t limit our missions to a particular village,” he said, adding:
“We only choose areas that are in need and accessible to others.
“I am from Fyrish; so this is a way of giving back to my community. However, we have patients that came from New Amsterdam, Rose Hall and even from the East Bank of Demerara.

“As word gets around, people come in from all over, and we don’t refuse them.”
Dr. Cort said the outreaches have been very successful in the past, and more doctors are coming on board because of that.
He said that it’s the Mission’s goal to help identify the medical issues in patients early, so that it can be controlled and treated early before it gets worse.