– among other issues, took toll on New Amsterdam Hospital, medical team told

By Nafeeza Yahya-Sakur

THE National Regional Hospital Review Committee (NHRC) established by President, Dr Irfaan Ali, to look into the state of health services throughout country got down to work on Monday with a visit to the New Amsterdam Hospital and had some unpalatable reports to digest.

The team of experts headed by Guyana’s lone neurosurgeon, Dr. Amarnauth Dukhi, found that some of the complaints the President received from residents on a recent visit to Region Six, such as drug shortage and lack of laboratory and radiology services, were not far-flung claims.

According to Dr Dukhi, a senior doctor at the hospital corroborated the complaints that President Ali received and also explained why they occurred.

“I have been with this hospital since 2012 and I can safely say there has never been a full year, over the past eight years, that the operation theatre has been functioning properly – leaking roof, AC not functioning, mould in the ceiling, electrical issues are just a few of the problems we had to deal with,” the senior doctor at the New Amsterdam Hospital said.

The doctor noted that basic medication and supplies that are critical for the operation of the surgical unit, radiation and outpatient departments are usually in short supply or non-existent, preventing doctors from doing their work effectively.

“We have a CT scanner here for the past four years and up to now it is now not working; it had electrical issues, no lead on the walls, the humidity is too high in the room and now the software is being installed. So sometimes a patient comes in with a minor head injury and because we can’t perform a simple scan we have to transfer them to GPHC whereas we could send over the scans for the specialist to look at and make their diagnosis,” a senior doctor explained to the committee.

Another doctor related that the x-ray department had been non-functional for the past two months due to the unavailability of films, but over the past two years had been periodically down due to the lack of reagents to develop the films.  Patients had to go to private labs or clinics to have the x-rays done or doctors were forced to proceed without them if the patient could not have afforded to get them done at private facilities, the doctor related.

He, however, noted that a new digital x-ray machine iwas being setup and that should hopefully fix the issues regarding e-rays.

REPORT
Following the meeting, Dr. Dukhi told the Guyana Chronicle that his team will prepare a report to send to the President and the Health Ministry based on their findings.

The team has also been monitoring the numerous complaints in the media as well as those they received directly from the staff at the hospital. It would decide whether to visit the hospital for a second time or look to have a medium where the public can be engaged.

Dr Dukhi expressed optimism that some of the issues identified will be fixed in the near future so as to ensure the delivery of effective and efficient health services in the region.

“In terms of what we have found today here, there are a lot of issues; issues that can be corrected, issues with good management strategy and having effective measures in place to deal with implementing these issues I think can be corrected with the will, the need, and of course the resources  to make it happen. Some of the things are basically managerial having adequate resources, other materials that are needed at the regional level transferred to the region in a timely manner and we have good management with the resources then there should be a much more improved heath response to the people,” the prominent doctor said.

On September 1, President Ali, on a visit to Region Six, received several complaints from residents about the delivery of poor health service in the region. He promised the residents to look into their complaints and put measures in place to address them.

Following his interaction with the residents, a National Regional Hospital Review Committee (NHRC) was established to conduct investigations into the state of health services across the country, starting with Region Six.

Recently, Michael Khan was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New Amsterdam Hospital and is expected to assume his role soon, while Dr. Vishalya Sharma has been appointed Regional Health Officer for Region Six.

Photo 1: Members of the National Regional Hospital Review Committee (NHRC) during a visit at the New Amsterdam Hospital. From left, Medical Director of the Georgetown Public Hospital
Corporation (GPHC), Dr Fawcett Jeffery; Chief Nursing Officer (ag), Nalini Dass; Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Amarnauth Dukhi; Melissa Ramdeen; and Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle

Photo 2 – The team engages a staff of the New Amsterdam Hospital Laboratory