THE Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, has instructed that, as of November 2023, a monthly report of hotline complaints and actions taken must be made public.
This is according to a statement released by the Ministry of Health (MoH) on Saturday in response to a September 25 editorial published in the Stabroek News criticising the healthcare sector.

“The health sector performance has drastically improved over the last three years. While the Ministry of Health firmly stands behind this statement, we concede that there are some areas of concern that still plague the sector and the Ministry is making earnest efforts to address these concerns,” the statement read.

The health ministry noted that one of the repeated statements made in the editorial was that whenever complaints are made about alleged poor and inappropriate treatment in public sector hospitals, the MoH or other relevant health authorities completely ignore these complaints and repeatedly fail to respond.
However, the ministry said that that was inaccurate and added that, while making this charge of non-responsiveness, the same editorial also opined that “the authorities are quite good at convening investigations.”

The statement read: “In every instance, the MoH and/or other relevant public health sector authorities investigate the cases. As far as possible, findings are made known to the public. Every case is investigated. Stabroek News is unfair in concluding that the authorities are guilty of ‘waiting the public out in the hope that the affected families settle or simply give up’.”

According to the statement, one of the challenges the sector has been addressing over the years is the institutionalisation of patient-friendly services and while significant improvement has been achieved, the sector continues to be challenged by inappropriate behaviour by a small number of staff members.
Given this, the MoH and the government have established a hotline which became operational in April 2023. The number is 227-4357. The ministry said that, since the inception of the national hotline, there have been 77 complaints, with 65 addressed and 12 pending.

Similarly, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has several hotlines for complaints which operates 24 hours and complaints are immediately sent to the Chief Executive Officer, the Director of Medical and Professional Services and the Director of Nursing for action. The numbers at the GPHC are 226-6249, 227-8210, 227-8241, 227-8245 (Extension 1148) and 701-4742 (WhatsApp).

The ministry urged that persons utilise these numbers to let them know of problems they encounter in the health sector.
Additionally, the GPHC has an office by the entrance painted bright orange for in-person complaints concerns. While they see some complaints in social media and sometimes in the printed media, the Ministry said that none of them has ever been the subject of a call to the hotline.