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NAPS hosts annual appreciation ceremony
A section of the gathering at this year’s Appreciation Ceremony hosted by the Health Ministry and National Aids Programme Secretariat
On Tuesday afternoon, the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) held its annual appreciation ceremony at its Hadfield Street location as a form of publicly expressing gratitude to certain entities who “went beyond the call of duty” to support the drive of NAPS throughout the year.
According to Programme Manager, Dr Shanti Singh, this was an opportunity to pay tribute to outstanding employees and supporters and also special tribute to the staff of NAPS.
She explained that these people are a group of individuals who have committed significant proportions of their time to responding to the epidemic (HIV/AIDS) and have worked tirelessly and beyond the call of duty over the years giving much of themselves.
Dr Singh emphasized that the HIV prevalence of 1.2 per cent reported by UNAIDS for 2009 is testimony to the above mentioned facts and added that in the execution of all duties there was always the application of fundamental principles including that of adherence to basic human rights and results based performance.
The Programme Manager stated that both the Ministry of Health and NAPS “cherish and work in the strengthening of partnerships both at international and local levels including that of the private sector and community and faith based organizations”.
Dr Singh posited that NAPS will continue “at no less of an intensity” to ensure that the Ministry’s vision of no child being with HIV will be attained and also “keeping on pace” with the Minister of Health’s trajectory of elimination.
Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, told the gathering that Tuesday’s event was held for persons to recognize the important contributions of excellence over time in the health sector by the various entities who were recipients of the awards.
He also emphasized that there were a number of other such events during the year which allowed persons to be recognized for their contributions in the health system nationwide and said “for every one thing that we don’t do so well, there are hundreds which we do well”.
Minister Ramsammy stated that “every day in this country is a day allowing for criticisms about our deficiencies” but added that he is very pleased with the progress that Guyana is making in order to combat the various epidemics, especially since the type of resources to which the Ministry of Health has access is not equivalent to those of the developing countries.
However, there is a higher success in combating HIV/AIDS in Guyana compared to those countries.
He expressed gratitude to the staff of the health sector throughout the country and added that the appreciation award ceremony was an opportunity to display “collective success”
Minister Ramsammy closed by saying “we do our work not just for salaries we receive; we do our work because flames were lit within us”.
The awards were presented as follows under the categories: Most Outstanding Non Health Governmental Ministry working to mitigate the spread of HIV in Guyana was awarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs;
Most Outstanding Private Sector Support To the Food Bank, NAPS was extended to NAMILCO;
Longest Outstanding Supporting Partner to the National Blood Transfusion Service was received by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF);
Most Outstanding DOTS Worker, TB/HIV Co-infection, TB Control Programme was given to Leona DaCosta;
Most Outstanding Staff Member (NAPS) was awarded to Dr. Abdel Abdalla
Most Outstanding Staff Member (Blood Bank) was extended to Shameeza Mangal
Most Outstanding Staff Member (Adolescent Health) was awarded to Edward Hackett
And the Special Award for Visionary and Outstanding Leadership was given to Dr. Shamdeo Persaud.
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