A MEDICAL team that included dentists, eye specialists, and diagnostic medical sonographers among other medical professionals recently delivered medical care to scores of residents at Imbaimadai, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

The team, led by Director-General of the Ministry of Health Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo, spent two days in the community, which has a population of 855 persons.
Dr. Mahadeo said that 66 persons were seen by the optometrists, and 38 were given spectacles.

Persons were also seen by the dentists and 201 procedures/interventions were done, while nine persons had VIA done and three procedures were done with one referral for further management.
Further, Dr. Mahadeo said 27 ultrasounds were also done with pregnant women, who received the service for the first time, and 37 residents were seen by the doctors at the medical clinic.

“We are also looking at working with the region to upgrade the facility to provide better services,” Dr. Mahadeo said.
Additionally, the Director-General also updated the village council on the direction and plans of the Ministry of Health.

In outlining the plans, he said that all bed-ridden patients and the elderly must be visited at home, and have their treatment taken to them, while their relatives/caregivers will be advised on how to best manage them.
He also expressed gratitude to the Council for their active support to the community doctor, and the government in its quest to better the lives of the residents.

Resident doctor Dr. Daniel Robertson said the health facility has over 90 per cent of the medications it requested within the last three months. Of those not received, they used substitutes instead, which was a vast improvement from last year.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali in September 2020 said that during his several visits to the hinterland pre-election 2020, he’d noted that healthcare delivery was at a much lower level. There was no health staff at some of the facilities, and drugs and medical supplies were nearly non-existent at the health centres and health posts in the hinterland.

In light of this, he instructed that training be done so that every facility would have at least a community health worker permanently based at the facility. He also said that the health facilities must have adequate supplies of drugs and medical supplies, and must be visited periodically by doctors.

The level of care, the President had said, must equal that being delivered on the coastland of Guyana, while there must be equal and equitable access to care across the country.

To fulfill this mandate, Dr. Mahadeo said the ministry had trained 54 persons in Region One (Barima-Waini), who eventually graduated as Community Health Workers (CHW), while another 62 persons from Region Nine (Upper Takuti-Upper Essequibo) will be graduating soon.

Those two regions, he said, will, for the first time, have CHWs at all their primary care facilities, and in the large facilities. To ensure there is continued growth and development, permanent training centres were established in those two regions.

In addition, Dr. Mahadeo said that Regional Health Officers have been instructed to lead teams to visit all the facilities on a scheduled basis, and that specialist outreaches must be done to the communities, thereby ensuring that services are available to residents.

In Imbaimadai’s case, those persons who need interventions like eye surgery were identified, and will be brought out to facilities that offer those services.
According to residents, it was the first time that some of those services were being offered to the community.

The Toshao and councillors complimented the team for the work they did, but requested that the health facility in the community be expanded to manage more inpatients, and have the capacity to do diagnostic tests.
Dr. Robertson was complimented on his proactive approach to managing patients, including doing home visits.

The Toshao also thanked the Government of Guyana for providing the services, including better drug supplies, and asked for additional transportation to be made available to move patients from farms and backdam areas to the health facility.