Cancer Institute granted temporary licence to operate

May 01, 2013 News

Cancer patients who have been in the waiting line for treatment for the past 10 months can now breathe a sigh of relief. This was after news yesterday that the government has granted the Cancer Institute of Guyana (CIG) a three-month licence to operate. Treatment will begin at the facility on Monday.

The Cancer Institute of Guyana

For the aforementioned period, almost 80 patients who are suffering from various types of cancer had been praying for such a development so that their treatment could be resumed and the possibility of them living a relatively normal life would increase.
Kaieteur News broke the story after listening to the plight of these patients and the government has been silent on the situation.
Yesterday, Health Minister, Bheri Ramsaran held a press conference at his Brickdam, Georgetown office to hand over the licence. The Minister placed security guards at the entrance to question the reporters to ascertain their media houses before letting them into the press conference. Private media houses, including Kaieteur News, were not invited.
Kaieteur News learnt that the licence was granted after a report was submitted by the Director of Standards, Dr. Julian Amsterdam, which pointed out that the treatment centre has established the necessary resources required to deliver quality services.
A few weeks ago this publication carried a story stating that the Cancer Institute was hoping that the Health Ministry would speed up the process in presenting them with a licence so that they could start their cancer treatment therapy.
The institute in a statement explained that in June last, a decision was taken to upgrade the cancer treatment machine with a newer version. In October last, the installation of the new machine, Linac Primus was completed, but the treatment could not have been started because of the new Health Care Act which requires all medical facilities be licenced.
The new Act prompted the Health Ministry to seek assistance from PAHO and WHO to oversee performance of the Linac Primus equipment. A report from both organizations confirmed that the machine met international standards.
Documents requested by the Health Ministry were presented for further review and evaluation by designated inspectors.
After months of waiting, the institute was finally granted a licence to operate.
The CIG came into existence in 2006 via a collaborative effort between the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Health and the private sector, in the form of Global Imaging Services Incorporated.
Since its establishment, records show that the facility has diagnosed numerous patients and has treated over 960 patients with Radiation Therapy.