Latest update April 17th, 2025 8:39 PM
Leaked embassy cables reveal…Medical facilities operate with skeleton staff, overworked nurses
– Blood is often unavailable or available only after long delays.
Ambulance service is substandard; limited to transportation without any medical care, and frequently not available for emergencies according to recently released embassy cables from the whistleblower website, Wikileaks.
The cable states that a serious lack of adequate medical facilities, equipment and trained medical staff in Guyana, especially for emergency care, was one of Post’s greatest concerns during preparations for the previous Cricket World Cup (CWC) matches. It was noted that there was a severe nursing shortage across Guyana (most nurses emigrate soon after finishing nursing school), which means that medical facilities usually operate with only a skeleton staff of overworked nurses.
The cables, which were supposed to be confidential, further stated that the best-equipped Emergency Room is at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), whose staff and facilities are extremely limited.
However, during a visit by consular staff to the Emergency Room (ER), the doctor manning the ER was a fresh graduate from the University of Guyana’s undergraduate Medical Sciences program.
The cable noted that the doctor was not required to complete a graduate degree or a residency, nevertheless the doctor started working at the hospital soon after graduation.
Outside the ER at the GPHC
In addition, the doctor confirmed that the ER frequently operated only with one or two nurses, and a quick look at the waiting room showed numerous patients waiting for attention.
“Equipment in the ER was basic. Any emergency during the CWC involving serious injuries or multiple patients would clearly overburden the ER,” the Wikileaks cable stated.
“The ER sees essentially all trauma in Guyana, which includes numerous car crash victims, gunshot wounds and stabbings; these patients combined with other acute care needs, frequently overwhelm capacity in terms of beds, ventilators, oxygen dispensing systems, and operating room space under normal conditions. Blood is often unavailable or available only after long delays.”
Recognizing the severe lack of medical personnel and equipment, the Wikileaks cable further stated that the Vanderbilt University (which has had a project with the GPHC’s ER since 2002 to improve emergency medicine) planned to bring 38 physicians, nurses, and paramedics to augment the GPHC ER staffing during the CWC. However, the team had planned on creating a special Emergency Department that would be tasked with handling any casualties among international visitors in particular.
It was further stated that the team had been working with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to obtain funding for transportation and housing and the Minister of Health had reportedly been scrambling to secure this for the team, recognizing the importance of the initiative.
The embassy had been counting on this particular resource while making disaster and contingency plans for the CWC. Unfortunately, after months of planning, the Vanderbilt team was notified that the funding from MOH had fallen through.
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