…some 40 scholarships to be issued

GUYANA’S Regional Health Services Department, despite being plagued with several challenges, is showing signs of improvement as the Public Health Ministry takes strategic steps to not only enhance the sector’s infrastructure, but to boost its human resources capacity, Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Kay Shako, said on Tuesday.

Dr. Shako’s statements were substantiated when Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, announced that a total of 40 health-related scholarships will be issued as she declared open the 2017 Regional Health Officers Meeting at the Lake Mainstay Resort in the Whyaka Village.

Over 53 Health Directors, Regional Health Officers (RHOs), Senior Health Officers, and Regional Executive Officers (REOs) are meeting at the Lake Mainstay Resort on the Essequibo Coast (Region Two) for the 2017 RHO Meeting under the theme: “Collaboratively we build a resilient health care system that is acceptable, accessible, timely and appropriate to meet the needs of every person in Guyana.”

Minister Cummings, in delivering the feature address, reminded those present that the Regional Health Services Department is the nerve centre for the delivery of health care services in the country. Cognisant of the importance of building human capacity within the sector, the Public Health Ministry met with the World Bank, and was granted 20 scholarships for the Master’s Level. Additionally another 20 scholarships have been made available for prospective Community Health Workers – two from each of the 10 administrative regions.

For the Master’s Scholarships, Minister Cummings said that Regional Health Officers who have not yet acquired the Masters will be given priority.
In moving forward, the Junior Public Health Minister urged the health functionaries to redefine the way healthcare services are offered.

“As you go through your deliberations during this week, let your focus be on significantly improving on all counts, the quality of healthcare we provide as a ministry. Let’s explore more resourceful and operational ways of information-sharing, let us communicate more effectively with each other and let us align our collective vision with that of the Ministry of Public Health.

Overcoming challenges
Meanwhile, in giving an overview of Regional Health Services in Guyana, Dr. Shako said though the department has its challenges, it has managed to provide much-needed services across the 10 administrative regions. She pointed out that over the past two years, the Regional Health Services Department has been placing ‘Primary Care Physicians’ at the country’s first level of care – the health centres and health posts. “We placed those physicians there because we want to strengthen our primary health care system. And I would like to tell you that to date, over 95% of our health centres have Primary Care Physicians,” Dr. Shako said with a sense of achievement.

Such a move, she explained, allows patients to have easier access to doctors at the level of their communities. “Another thing we would have done to narrow the gap between the coastland and hinterland regions, was to place specialists across the hinterland region,” she added. Thus far, specialists have been placed in Regions Seven and Nine and according to Dr. Shako, the results are already evident. Maternal and infant mortality in those regions have declined, while patient care has improved. Region Nine is now benefiting from an internal medicine specialist and a paediatrician.

Apart from placing specialists, the department is now having focused supervisory visits. The visiting team usually comprises personnel from the biomedical, lab, food policy and mental health departments. These targeted visits are designed to have problems facing the health facilities fixed in most cases on the spot.

“In terms of training, with technical assistance from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), we want to build capacity within our Regional Health Officers. So, all our Regional Health Officers are now doing a programme known as the Masters in Public Health or Masters in Business Administration, so that they could have a wider view of how to manage the region,” the Director of Regional Health Services added.
Complementing the work of the Regional Health Services Department is the Cuban Medical Brigade.

The Cuban Brigade, Dr. Shako noted, has been assisting in bridging the gap between the coastland and the hinterland. “From January up to this point, we have over 200 Cuban collaborators who would have been serving us within the different regions. Out of that number, you have 94 persons that are specialists and they are also placed across the 10 regions,” she noted.

In the area of infrastructure, the Regional Health Services Department has been equipping key healthcare facilities with much-needed tools. In its 2018 Budget, provision has been made for the upscaling of its healthcare facilities.

Permanent Secretaries of the Public Health Ministry, Colette Adams, and her counterpart in the Ministry of Communities, Emile McGarrell, were among the officials present. The meeting will come to an end on Friday after extensive discussions on key services provided.