Health Ministry unveils treatment guidelines

Nov 26, 2010 News

With the intent of improving primary health care in the public health system, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Tuesday unveiled a document comprising Standard Treatment Guidelines (STGs).
This is the first such publication to be produced by the Ministry and it is expected that it will be reviewed and revised periodically, according to Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) Consultant, Claudette Harry.
A total of 89 conditions are described in the document. And the benefits of having standard treatment guidelines, she noted, are that they are generally perceived as having educational values and are likely to improve the quality of care since they provide a standardised approach to the management of diseases in Guyana.
Additionally, she explained that they are a convenient source of advice and can guide the procurement of drugs. However, in order to benefit from the use of the guidelines both record-keeping and development of habits of analysing statistical data is essential.
She asserted that the knowledge of a disease’s pattern, the pattern of frequency of occurrence and the number of persons affected, will guide in the procurement and availability of drugs at the different level of health facilities.
“It will prevent unnecessary stocking of drugs and hence wastage and lead to cost saving. An important consideration is that it can guide the development of an essential drugs list and the national formulary…It can also lead to better harmony between primary and secondary care and facilitate checking of patients between colleagues.”
And since this is the first time that such treatment guidelines have come into play, Harry disclosed that it was therefore necessary to determine the current diagnostic and prescribing practices in order to have some basis for judging the efficacy of the use of the guidelines.
“On completion of the STGs, therefore, we did a baseline survey, carried out in a selected number of level one and two facilities… that is, at health centres and district hospitals, to determine the extent to which clinical criteria to be used for diagnosing of selected diseases and conditions were being carried out, and to evaluate the completeness and legibility of prescription writing by prescribers and consistency with the treatment guidelines.”
The results of the survey, Harry said, showed that in general management of the disease, conditions under review were fairly consistent with the STGs. However, it was found that there was room for improvement in certain areas, including that of record-keeping. In this regard it was found that there is no uniformity among facilities, and in some places, records are kept only for those with chronic diseases.”
And according to Director of Regional Health Services, Dr Narine Singh, training to utilise the STGs commenced in September among primary health care workers. To date, training has been completed in the Georgetown Districts, the Mabaruma sub-districts, and with over 50 Cuban-trained Guyanese physicians. It is anticipated that implementations of the guidelines will be completed by the end of the first quarter of next year.
“For the rest of the year we will be completing Regions One, Two and Three…and the other Regions will follow in that sequence.” Monitoring and evaluation will follow, according to Dr Singh, in order to assess the effectiveness of the STGs.
In commending the Ministry of Health and SCMS for producing and publishing the guidelines, William Gelman, Acting USAID Mission Director, disclosed that USAID is very pleased to have supported the development and publication of the document.
“We believe that the guidelines will strengthen the provision of services to clients throughout the country while anti-viral treatment is only available in 15 sites, the guidelines will improve treatment for more than 60 conditions at 350 facilities. We are pleased that the PEPFAR programme for HIV and AIDS is having this wider impact on the entire health system in Guyana.”
PEPFAR promotes national ownership and sustainability, Gelman noted, adding that the completion of the guidelines is an excellent example of success.
The guidelines, according to Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, will only contribute to the improvement of health if they are utilised. As such he noted that health workers at all levels must be trained to make optimum use of the document.

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Health Ministry unveils treatment guidelines

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