…bed, floor capacities to increase

THE all-out efforts by the Ministry of Public Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to address the negative statistics of maternal mortality and morbidity received a boost with the launch of the Maternity Extension Project, on Monday.
A $50M funding to enable the extension of the maternity wing at the GPHC is being provided by the Canadian Bank Note, the Canada-based parent company of the Guyana Lotto.

Present at the ceremony held in the Maternity Parking Lot was CBN Managing Director, Ms. Tracey Lewis, who, in brief remarks, noted that the expansion unit will complement the existing maternity services and provide additional accommodation, private rooms, office space and specialist services. “We value the contribution of doctors, nurses and midwives of maternity care; after all, they assist in bringing new life into the world, and we are hopeful that this expansion will provide these professions with a comprehensive improved facility that would be comfortable and welcoming to all those parents,“ she added.

And much to the delight of the audience that included Minister of Finance Winston Jordan; Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence; Brigadier (ret’d) George Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of the GPHC; Miss Kesaundra Alves, Chairperson, Lewis announced that CBN will ensure the general maintenance of the facility upon completion. She underscored the importance of maintenance of the facility.

In her remarks, Minister Lawrence, in addition to expressing appreciation to the CBN Managing Director for her foresight in seeking to assist in such a tangible manner, and Minister Jordan for the integral role he played in helping to access the funds for the project, said that the intervention by CBN is critical for the ministry’s maternal and child health programme. The minister described her ministerial colleague as “a true friend of the social sector”, and lauded Lewis for her “wonderful initiative of co-signing to make all this possible to this country’s premier referral hospital.”

Minister Lawrence reminded of the ministry’s objective, which is to provide the highest possible appropriate maternal care and for it to be delivered in an atmosphere that shows respect to human. The expansion to the maternity wing provides just the opportunity for that to be done, Minister Lawrence added. On that note, the minister said that the ministry, in conjunction with the GPHC, is committed to redressing the negative statistics concerning the maternal mortality and morbidity, and reiterated that their intention is to re-inject the positives into this department and change the statistics from negative to positive so that incidents of maternal mortality and morbidity can be lessened.

Minister Jordan expressed gratitude to Lewis and CBN for providing the funds for the project and committing to its maintenance. He urged that the users also commit to keeping the facility in a pristine manner, befitting the money that will be injected. He evoked much laughter when he suggested that a process should be put in train to access a similar sum from CBN for another humanitarian project that will showcase the efforts of Lotto and the government that is being done in the social sector for health and social development.
He added that when Guyana’s oil and gas begins to flow, this country will be in a better position to address a number of projects it has on the front burner, like the much-talked-about trauma centre that could not get off the ground because of lack of funds. Minister Jordan reminded of the known colloquial saying “One, one dutty build dam.”

GPHC’s George Lewis, in giving a background into the project, said that the launching which is another phase of the maternity expansion, is timely as the GPHC is currently celebrating 20 years as a corporation. The GPHC is a national reform hospital, national teaching hospital, regional hospital for Region Four, and the only public hospital in the city of Georgetown. He said the GPHC has a mandate to provide a comprehensive range of healthcare services in an efficient, effective, equitable and caring manner. He also noted that over the last 20 years, the hospital has undergone a number of changes.

In explaining the importance of the expansion project, the CEO said that the record for 2017 shows that a total of 8324 admissions and 5515 babies were delivered, while in 2018, there was a total of 8277 admissions with 5547 babies being delivered. He said, on an average, 16 babies are delivered daily and that the hospital is constantly challenged to find in-patient beds, particularly between the period September to February.

This, he added, led to the Board of Directors and administration’s decision to address the issue by constructing a new wing in 2016, and in 2018, tackled some internal renovations within the pre-natal and post-natal wards.

Further, to address the situation, the GPHC included in its 2019 budget additional extension works, adding it was quite opportune that while they were publicly advertising for the extension project, that Minister Lawrence asked that they identify a project which could be funded by the Canadian Bank Note. He recalled that the GPHC first did some extension works on the maternity wing in 2016, but though it provided improvements for critical care services, such as the neonatal intensive care unit and operating suites, it did not alleviate the issue of overcrowding.

Currently, there are 75 beds in both the pre-natal and post-natal wards, for over 8000 admissions per year. Also, there are no facilities for the isolation of patients who require special needs attention, while the sanitary block is inadequate. Consequently, the aim of the new project is to address those issues.

When completed, the bed capacity of the two existing units will be increased by 26.7 per cent, with the floor capacity of those units benefitting through the creation of two isolation areas on both the pre-natal and post-natal units.

Additionally, both units will benefit from 100 per cent increase in sanitation space .
The projects, the CEO said, envisions the procurement of critical equipment to support health care within the maternity unit, with the infrastructure expected to cost in the vicinity of $31M and the equipment about $19M. “It is our belief that once the project is completed, it will provide better facilities, better equipment and make the patients who access the services at the GPHC much more comfortable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the GPHC Board of Directors, Kesaundra Alves, reminded that since taking office in 2015, the coalition government has been looking for ways to improve not only the services at the GPHC, but also the infrastructure and quality of equipment.