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GPHC lacks key drug despite its importance…Absence causes patient to lose vision
The absence of a key drug at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has caused a number of patients to lose sight, a senior official said yesterday.
Natamycin
Natamycin, is an expensive drug which is used to treat corneal ulcer. Corneal Ulcer is a sore on the cornea (the transparent layer at the front of the eye) and persons tend to lose vision of that eye if the ulcer is not treated properly and in time.
Recently persons from the rural areas have been visiting the hospital with this disease but because of the absence of the Natamycin, most of them lose their sight. Some of them lose sight in one eye but the disease, corneal ulcer tends to spread to the other eye, causing total blindness.
And although the medication has been listed on the hospital’s requisition form for years, as a “high priority” drug, it is never available, said Dr. George Norton, Head of the Ophthalmology Department.
Dr. Norton explained that corneal ulcer is mostly found in the farming communities and areas affected by dust. He said that the disease can also result from a trauma or “it can form when pollen, milk from plant or dust in the farming area falls into the eye. When that gets into the eye, persons tend to rub that eye and it becomes infected.”
“Where organic matter is concern, the bacteria that affects the eye is known as Pseudomonas bacteria and that bacteria can eat the eye out within eight hours if it is not treated,” the Ophthalmologist claimed.
Kaieteur News understands that at least once a week a patient with corneal ulcer visits the Eye clinic at GPHC for treatment and in many cases the patient ends up losing the infected eye because there is not the right type of drug to manage the situation.
Currently, there are two persons hospitalized in the Female Surgical Ward. One woman has corneal ulcer and she has lost sight in one of her eyes already. However she is being kept in the hospital because Eye Surgeons fear that the disease might spread to the other eye.
The other patient is a school child. “Her eyes are not so bad but she will lose permanent vision because the scar on the cornea would be so dense that for her to get back useful vision from that eye she will need a corneal transplant which is not done in Guyana,” Norton added.
Kaieteur News was told that pharmacies throughout the country do not sell Natamycin because of its exorbitant price. Currently, the drug is only available at one private hospital.
Early this year this newspaper did an interview which revealed that GPHC was short of critical drugs. The hospital responded to the allegation and promised to investigate but since then Kaieteur News was never informed of the outcome of the investigation.
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