THE Lethem Regional Hospital, on Friday, became the second public healthcare facility to be converted into a ‘SMART’, climate resilient operation, following the Diamond Diagnostic Centre which was upgraded and reopened in April of this year.

The Region Nine, (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) hospital was recommissioned by President Dr. Irfaan Ali, who explained that the conversions are merely a component of the government’s drive to develop and modernise the country’s health sector.

“When we speak about this transition, it also requires a smart approach to work and this is where the human factor comes in. We have to develop a new culture in a way we administer health services,” President Ali said.

The ‘SMART Hospital’ concept refers to a facility that is both safe and ‘green’. The initiative to convert five local hospitals comes under an $835M (US$4.175 million) project being funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Dr. Ali was quoted by the government’s Department of Public Information as saying that the conversions go “beyond the physical asset [and] the nice building; it talks about a system of administering a service that is different from (what it) was prior.”

It was explained that the upgrades being done to key hospitals across the country are also part of the administration’s efforts to ensure equitable access to important services; more specifically, to ensure that effective and efficient healthcare can be accessed countrywide, and not just by persons living along the coastland.

“This Lethem Hospital would have a further conversion,” President Ali noted. He said that efforts will continue to ensure that residents of Region Nine have access to optimum healthcare. “We are going to build a modern facility here in Lethem, with the best surgical wings you can find with good accommodation for patients. All this will happen in [the] next five years,” Dr. Ali assured.

To further support the upgraded operations of the Lethem Hospital, the government is also looking to have a “specialised outfitted vehicle” assigned to and stationed in the region, at least by 2022. “…that [the vehicle] would travel monthly from community to community, offering optimal health services,” a statement from the Office of the President indicated.

The statement also indicated that this provision will allow the health system to implement a tracking mechanism called the ‘Patient Management Information System’ that can be used by healthcare professionals to act on a person’s specific medical issues, even before they get worse.

The President cautioned, however, that for these investments to bear fruit, there will have to be a cultural change, which would not only be applicable to doctors, nurses, and other medical staff, but to all of the hospital’s workers.

“So, it is the integrated flow from the time you get to the hospital to when you are administered service. And I want to urge the management of the hospital to ensure that that flow and level of service is there,” President Ali said.

He noted, too, that in addition to upgrading and retrofitting hospitals across the country, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government is focused on upgrading all levels of healthcare in Guyana. This, Dr. Ali explained, will be done from the sub-regional level, the regional level and the national level.

Even though the ‘SMART’ conversion project started with five local hospitals, the Guyana Chronicle was informed that a needs assessment has commenced on 89 other health facilities.

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, who also spoke at Friday’s recommissioning exercise, said that following the upgrades, operations at the Lethem Regional Hospital have improved tremendously. He was quoted by the government’s information department as saying the government’s thrust is “to make sure that in this region, we work hard to improve the quality of services that we are offering…. all of which would create a better ambiance for healing.

In a previous interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Minister Anthony said that the conversion of all five hospitals is projected to wrap up by the end of the year. This means that within the next few months, Guyana will boast of hospitals that are climate-resilient and energy efficient.

The next such facility slated for completion and full reopening is the Leonora Hospital, West Coast Demerara, which is being upgraded by Correia and Correia Limited.

Once this Region Three, (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) project is completed, the Mabaruma Hospital in Region One (Barima-Waini) is next on the agenda to be recommissioned, followed by the Paramakatoi Health Centre in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).

The SMART hospitals are intended to boast the requisite infrastructure to guard against flooding, reduce reliance on the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Corporation by resorting to renewable energy, as well as enabling the use of rainwater for its day-to-day functions.

The upgraded will also mitigate the need for persons to rely on the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for key services such as surgeries and x-rays, etc.

Dr. Anthony had said that the conversions of these local hospitals are directly linked to the government’s fight against climate change, having recognised the detrimental impact that poor environmental practices have on human health.

In explaining the importance of the SMART hospital project, Dr. Anthony, in a previous interview with the Guyana Chronicle, made specific reference to reports released by the United Nations’ Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), particularly as it relates to the notable rise in global temperatures.

“For the last hundred years, the earth’s temperature has increased by 0.75 degrees Celsius and every decade since 1850, we are living in warmer climate,” the minister said, pointing to the consequences of Guyana’s infamous 2005 floods.

In a series of articles published in January, the Guyana Chronicle also examined a number of adverse effects that climate change is likely to have on local sectors, including sea defence, health and food production, all due to the projected rise in sea levels.

As a matter of fact, the IPCC predicts that “global warming will worsen human health conditions, especially in tropical regions.” In countries such as Guyana, an increase in temperature indicates an increase in mosquito populations, thereby escalating the risk of a variety of insect-borne infections.

“… and those mosquitos would bring with them a number of different types of diseases such as dengue and malaria, and chikungunya, and so forth,” Dr. Anthony previously said in an invited comment.

In addition to vector-borne and water-borne diseases, global warming also paves the way for increased heat waves, which would result in prolonged periods of abnormally high temperatures that can have serious health effects on vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and the sick.

“This was already seen during the 2003 heat wave in Europe, which claimed approximately 35,000 lives,” a recent UN Climate Change report indicated.

Reflecting on the many environmental tragedies that occurred in 2020, Guyanese Scientist, Dr. Michelle Kalamandeen, had opined that climate change has inevitably created the deadly monster that is the novel coronavirus. She explained that three out of every four new infectious diseases in people come from animals.

“More specifically, from our wildlife and from the livestock we keep in ever-increasing numbers… if an area becomes too hot or too cold for certain wildlife, they will migrate to new places, where they interact with other animals that they have never encountered before,” Dr. Kalamandeen told the Guyana Chronicle.

She reasoned that this usually results in humans increasingly sharing the same spaces and vying for the same food as various species of organisms, thereby increasing the risk of transmission of diseases from animals to humans.

To further address the climate change phenomenon, minister Anthony said that his ministry has commenced the drafting of a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan which seeks to examine a myriad of ways that the ministry can respond to climate change. The ‘SMART hospital’ project also ties into that response.

Nonetheless, also attending the Lethem hospital’s recommissioning were the British High Commissioner to Guyana, H.E Jane Miller, and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) Representative in Guyana, Dr Luis Felipe Codina.