Health Ministry focuses on non communicable diseases

Nov 08, 2012 News

A bold stance has been taken by the Ministry of Health to place high on its agenda plans to address Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs). This disclosure was recently made by Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, during an interview with this publication.
According to him this strategic move is aimed at addressing the various forms of cancers, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic pulmonary diseases as well as cataract.
He disclosed too that the threats that support or promote these diseases will also be amplified as part of the health sector’s mission to bring health “right down to the community level.”

Minister of Health,Dr Bheri Ramsaran

Minister Ramsaran pointed to the fact that NCDs are usually fostered by the abuse of alcohol, tobacco smoking, sedentary (inactive lifestyles), and bad food choices such as those laden with fat, salt and sugar.
NCD is in fact a medical condition or disease which by definition is non-infectious and non-transmissible between persons. They maybe chronic diseases of long duration and slow progression or they may result in more rapid death and can even lead to sudden stroke.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has outlined that in order to reduce the exposure of populations and individuals to the risk factors for NCDs there is a dire need for different factions of the society to be considered for action.
Schools, households and communities could play a crucial role, the WHO has highlighted, even as health financing is sustained by innovative approaches such as earmarking revenue from alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Policy implementation measures needful to address NCDs could include the protection of people from tobacco smoke, the enforcement of bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; raising of taxes on tobacco and alcohol and restricted access to retailed alcohol and enforcing bans on advertising, according to WHO.
It has been listed as crucial to promote public awareness about salt intake and salt content of food, the replacement of trans-fat in food with polyunsaturated fat and the promotion of public awareness about diet and physical activity.
It was against this very background that Minister Ramsaran said, “My Ministry is putting on the front burner the fight against the epidemic of NCDs.”
As part of this quest, he said that the Health Ministry has incorporated in ongoing activities to celebrate the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) 20th anniversary efforts to raise awareness about NCDs. The PPP/C on October 5, 1992, won the national election redeeming control of the country from the People’s National Congress.
According to the Minister, efforts on the part of the PPP/C regime have been instrumental in bolstering the delivery of health care adding that “health has done well.”
In addition to addressing NCDs, medical outreaches across the country have included moves to zero-in on eye and dental care, cervical cancer screening through visual inspection with acetic acid even as awareness about health care is amplified through the distribution of fliers and posters.
In an attempt to pay keen attention to the prevailing cataract condition and by extension utilise the free service offered at the Port Mourant Ophthalmology Centre, the Minister said that the services of at least three expert Cuban ophthalmologists have been retained. Currently the Port Mourant facility is staffed by Cuban experts. According to the Minister all those who are identified with cataract “will be taken in short shifts to the ophthalmology hospital to have their cataract or other eye diseases addressed.”
This, according to the Minister, is in fact a method of making sure that there is a sustainable flow of patients to the National Ophthalmology hospital while at the same time ensuring that the national character of the facility is emphasised.
“It is not just a nice hospital in Region Six, it is a hospital that has a national reach to any community,” said Minister Ramsaran.
Outreach activities have already touched Cane Grove on the East Coast of Demerara, Helena, Mahaica-Berbice and Wales on the East Bank of Demerara. The outreach at Wales, according to the Minister, has seen his Ministry collaborating with the Guyana Sugar Corporation, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the West Demerara Regional Hospital.