Latest update December 19th, 2024 2:02 AM
New BRHA Chairman promises improved health care services for Berbicians
Amidst a lot of negative reports and complaints from members of the general public, Berbicians are being assured that health care delivery services will see a drastic improvement. This promise was made by newly elected Chairman of the Board of the Berbice Regional Health Authority (BRHA) Mr. Poonai Bhigroo, in the presence of Health Minister Dr. Bheri Ramsaran.
The BRHA, he pledged, will live up to its motto.
Providing healthcare, he acknowledged, is a very, very difficult and challenging task. “We will stand firm in our duties to ensure better healthcare delivery system, so that the BRHA motto: ‘We serve, We Care, We Deliver’ can go through and stand firm.”
The new Board, he added, will welcome views from stakeholders. “This new Board will be willing to meet with every person directly or indirectly involved in the health care system, to listen to your suggestions and criticisms. I am appealing to the members of the BRHA that our meetings should be very, very short and precise…come to the point and wherever there is a disagreement, we should put it to a vote and move on!”
The Health Minister, who was present during the first Board meeting last week, stated that he wants to see a Visitor’s Book at the various health care facilities across the Region, “so when a particular officer visits from the Region or centre, the comments are clear.”
Berbice is the first county in Guyana to establish a Regional Health Authority.
Mr. Poonai Bhigroo
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo stated that several factors were responsible for establishing such a body in the Region.
“We had Heath Sector Reform and the idea was to choose a Region where the idea of an authority will be tested and identify a strong management team; provide support for the team…to develop more health authorities.”
Mahadeo further added that all five levels of health care exist in the Region, in the form of two national hospitals: the National Opthalmology Hospital and National Psychiatric Hospital; Referral Hospital: New Amsterdam; District Hospitals: Mibicuri, Port Mourant and Skeldon as well as eight health posts and 19 health centres.
The rehabilitation centres in the Region also have two satellite centres as well as the Public Health Complex, which houses the N/A Blood Bank, VIA Clinic and Foot Care clinic.
Since its establishment, the body has made significant strides in providing health care to persons there in the form of medical outreaches to the far corners of the Region, such as Black Bush Polder and other slightly remote communities.
Mahadeo stated that an extended home-based care programme was also established, whereby over 520 patients either bed-ridden or limited in their mobility, were visited. These persons receive medication right in their homes, which include physiotherapy sessions.
Efforts have also been made to improve the poor public’s image of the BRHAl, since in recent times, numerous revelations and articles have been published in the media regarding poor conditions at hospitals as well as the poor attitudes of nurses and doctors.
Staff evaluation and reports are two ways in which the senior officers in the BRHA collect data as to what is transpiring in the Berbice health care system on a daily basis. The BRHA came out as a result of the Health Sector Reform in Guyana. (Leon Suseran)
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