… says visiting Canadian spirometry team

A VISITING Canadian spirometry team on Wednesday reported that there is a high prevalence and incidents of respiratory conditions in the mining town.
The team lauded the timely decision by the Ministry of Public Health to decentralise the spirometry (effective respiratory diagnosis, testing and treatment) services, with the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) being the first to benefit from same.
The team comprises Dr Robert Levy, a lung specialist from Vancouver, Canada; Carmen Rempel, respiratory therapist; and Dr Denroyl Tudor, coordinator of the International Desk of the Ministry of Public Health.

Levy told the media that it has been two years since the spirometry department has been established in Linden and this year’s visit showed the need for increased capacity.
“We have to increase capacity from our initial efforts and focus on efforts to improve training opportunities for doctors and nurses,” he said.

The demand, he said, continues to grow in Linden and he is happy to see more Linden patients coming forward to benefit from the services, which means that less of these patients will be visiting the emergency room since they are better equipped with the knowledge for self-care and have accurate access to treatment plans.
The department is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment; the same used at the Vancover Canada Respiratory Division and the training received from the team has been very useful for the spirometry staff who have displayed a high level of proficiency, according to Levy.
The team, however, continues to monitor the work of the department from Canada on a weekly basis and gives input whenever necessary.

COMMENDATIONS
Levy commended the LHC staff for giving such a strong support in this regard. He also commended the ministry for decentralising the services.
“It places quite a burden on patients and families to have to travel to Georgetown to get an accurate diagnosis and accurate access to treatment plans … this is the first time we have ventured out of Georgetown and it is tremendous opportunity for patients to be able to remain closer to home,” he said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Dr Tudor of the Public Health Ministry. He said that the LHC is the trailblazer for the other regional institutions.
“We are definitely looking forward to advancing the programme into certain areas … we are looking at Regions Five, Six and Seven specifically. Once we ensure that the work that is done at this regional hospital is at the optimal level, then that will definitely give us the boost to push forward,” he posited.

CONCERNS ABOUT DUST POLLUTION
Levy said while there are no statistics to show that Linden has more cases of respiratory diseases compared to the rest of Guyana, the overwhelming number of cases can be linked to dust pollution, relative to bauxite mining.

“Certainly, anyone who has asthma or COPD is going to be affected to a much greater degree if he/she is in an environment of dust and pollution. There are a lot of respiratory illnesses going on here,” he said.

The spirometry team will continue to lend support to the LHC spirometry department to ensure that patients are well-educated, equipped with self-management skills and are treated appropriately.

The visiting team will be in Guyana for a week and will spend the remaining days at the GPHC Spirometry Department. Countrywide, over 6 000 Guyanese have benefited from GACESP which started five years ago.