THE Ministry of Health’s latest initiative, in partnership with Ministry of the Public Service and Medical Aid International, is a much-needed step in addressing the shortage of biomedical technicians and engineers in Guyana’s health sector.
Currently, government is offering a three-to six-month online and self-paced course to equip Guyanese with the necessary skills to fix health equipment. This programme will not only create job opportunities, but will also improve the quality of healthcare in the country. The first cohort of 39 participants, selected from various regions of Guyana, will have jobs guaranteed upon successful completion of the programme.
Participants are urged to develop maintenance plans for equipment in their respective hospitals to reduce the time taken to service and fix them.
To ensure success of the programme, some participants received kits containing a manual covering the range of things they are expected to know by the end of the training, a laptop, and other instruments. With new infrastructure and equipment being brought in, the minister stressed the need for biomedical technicians in each place. The programme will begin with essential equipment, but participants will be trained to service more advanced equipment entering Guyana’s health system.
Guyana can only provide high-quality care if the country has its own biomedical engineers, since one major issue that hampers the health sector’s progress is equipment occupying space at hospitals, which cannot be used because few have the knowledge and skills to fix them. This programme aims to change that.
The programme is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in biomedical engineering as designing, developing, and maintaining critical medical equipment requires skilled professionals who can ensure the delivery of quality healthcare.
Overall, the health ministry’s programme is a much-needed step towards addressing the shortage of biomedical technicians and engineers in Guyana’s health sector. By creating job opportunities and improving the quality of healthcare, this programme is a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, some 2,000 Computed Tomography (CT) scans are currently being conducted monthly at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). This is a drastic increase from the mere hundreds that were previously conducted.
Up to last year only a couple of hundred CT scans were done per month, but now close to 2,000 CTs are being done per month at the GPHC.
The increase comes after the government implemented a policy last November, which saw all CT scans at the facility being conducted at no cost to the patient and administered based on the urgency of the issue.
The monumental move by the government was met with praise, with multiple patients stating that the removal of the fee would greatly assist in lifting the financial burden of healthcare.
Before November 2022, the cost of a CT scan ranged from around $15,000 to over $50,000 in some instances.
The government’s intervention assisted in removing financial constraints as well as expedited the treatment and care of patients, as there was no delay for patients who face difficulty in covering the cost of their CT scans.
The Government of Guyana is currently working to modernise and transform the health sector.
A slew of new measures that are being implemented will see every person in Guyana receiving access to high-quality and affordable healthcare over the next few years.
