paediatric surgeries to be prioritised in new health partnership

PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali has announced that within the next six months, Guyana will collaborate with its international partners to decrease the waiting list for cardiac surgeries in the country.
The Head of State made this disclosure on Sunday when he delivered the feature address at the sod-turning ceremony for the new Lethem Regional Hospital in Region Nine.
The international partner that Guyana will enlist to undertake this feat is a specialist group from Qatar with which Guyana has established strong ties in recent years.

“Before the end of this year, we are going to welcome a specialist group out of Qatar… they are coming to help us zero all the outstanding cardiac surgeries that we have in Guyana,” Dr Ali revealed.
In his remarks, he highlighted that these initiatives are the ones that the government establishes when questioned about its actions during numerous international meetings.
As such, President Ali said that this move to clear the list will start with paediatric cardiac surgeries and continue to ensure that they ‘Zero the waiting list.’

However, he added that when this is done; he hopes there will be no additions to the list as the government continues to push investments in primary healthcare to further aid in lowering these conditions that require cardiac surgical interventions.

“We have to now change our lifestyle to avoid these types of surgeries, While we have the facility, the facility is not meant that we must go and push ourselves to get to the facility, the facility must be there as a last option,” he said.
He added, “The first option is to ensure the next generation of Guyanese coming up are more health conscious and more wellness conscious… and that is where a lot of the investment will go — primary healthcare.”