Collaborations helping Guyana’s Ebola preparedness

Nov 09, 2014 News

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– Chief Medical Officer

Although the Ebola Virus is considered a health challenge to avoid at all cost, if possible, it certainly does not

mean that it cannot be effectively controlled. At least this is belief of Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud, who is convinced that should a case of the virus arrive, Guyana is capable to deal with it.
During an interview with this publication, Dr. Persaud intimated that already the local health sector’s efforts are being aided by a five-point strategic plan and stakeholders have been working assiduously to combat the threat of the Ebola Virus. Added to this, Guyana has been collaborating with the countries of the Caribbean to ensure that its efforts are on par.
In fact the Region’s readiness to deal with the dreaded virus was one that was extensively discussed at a Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad during the past week. That special meeting, which was convened by Trinidad’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, was attended by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and the Chief Medical Officer himself.
The meeting saw the Heads in attendance collaborating to prepare and present a 10-point plan which spoke to the need for regional collaboration and building of needful capacity; working to strengthen the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) with a view of ensuring that Ebola testing can, at the least, be coordinated there.
“We don’t know if it can be done in the Region, because testing for Ebola requires a level four laboratory and CARPHA is level three,” Dr Persaud explained.
As such, he noted that while CARPHA, the Region’s primary laboratory, will be expected to coordinate samples for testing, there will be a need to extend collaborations outside of the Region to ensure samples are tested. This will therefore mean, according to Dr Persaud, that the Region will be dependent on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and another in Toronto, Canada.
“Those two have been coordinating and they have actually been doing work for Africa too…so if we do have a case that we need to investigate we can seek their support,” Dr Persaud said.
The Ebola virus since earlier this year has had dire effects on countries of West Africa and its effects have even been farther reaching. Several thousands have lost their lives to the disease which has the potential of having a crippling impact on countries’ economies.
Moreover, at the recent meeting too, the Heads of Government agreed on the establishment of a fund in order to address the resources gap of the Caribbean. This, according to the CMO, is expected to help cater to the procurement of suitable personal protective gear (for health personnel) as “it is quite difficult on the global market to get this because all of the countries have been buying and stocking these suits.”
But even before the threat of Ebola surfaced earlier this year, Guyana had in stock at its Kingston, Georgetown, bond, limited amounts of protective gear, some of which have been utilised for training various levels of health workers in preparation for Ebola.
As part of its preparatory efforts too, the Ministry of Health has been able to put in place a Stakeholders Committee which, Dr Persaud said, has been hosting meetings on a regular basis to chart the way forward. One such meeting was convened a few days ago.
As part of the Health Ministry’s work, which has been ongoing in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works and the airports’ authority, Dr Persaud said that “we have completed a quarantine station at the Cheddi Jagan Airport…there are two large tents set up there and they meet all the international standards; they also have an area where health professionals can put on their suits (protective gear) and attend to the patients.”
The stakeholders have also been able to identify ambulances suitable to transport any potential Ebola victim, and according to Dr Persaud, efforts are being made to work along with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to finalise teams for the required transportation service.
He went on to point out that on the clinical front, the GPHC’s isolation unit is fully operational. It was this very unit, situated at the ground floor of the hospital’s New Outpatient building, that a woman suspected to have had the virus was recently isolated. The case was eventually ruled-out as an actual case after thorough investigation.
But according to Dr Persaud, the key to successfully managing someone with Ebola is three-fold. And these, he noted, must include expert care from the time of the disease being most active, which should entail the availability of blood as “this is regarded as a bleeding disease.” The condition that persons can develop as a result of Ebola can also extend to organ failure, even the kidneys, said Dr Persaud, as he pointed out that one of the things that has been done by countries affected by the disease is the early provision of dialysis service to cater to patients with kidney failure.
“If you can support them during that time by providing emergency dialysis, once they recover their kidneys will return to normal function,” said Dr Persaud as he went on to emphasise the need for respiratory support for persons inflicted with the Ebola Virus. Many persons with the virus, he noted, are also known to develop respiratory complications. Moreover, he added that “we are trying to work with the hospitals to make sure that we can streamline these areas…”
The CMO disclosed, too, that the Health Ministry has been spearheading a number of Ebola-preparedness activities, some of which have gained immense support from Cuba. Cuba has had an active role in the fight against Ebola and has even sent several teams to some of the affected African territories.
Guyana has therefore been taking advantage of the Cuban expertise and has plans to send local personnel to receive training there, Dr Persaud informed.
All this, he said, is being done, even as efforts are being made to put in place a rapid response team which will operate on a two-fold basis, that is, a clinical competent team for which the GPHC has provided nurses and doctors, and a public health team which the Ministry of Health itself will organise. The public health team will consist of epidemiology nurses and officers, laboratory personnel and environmental personnel.
“They will be pretty much responsible for the following up…so if for example we identify a case and we start to manage (and the clinical team will be in charge of managing), the public health team will follow-up with contact tracing, isolation and monitoring of persons,” Dr Persaud explained.
While a quarantine area has been identified at the GPHC, the CMO noted that this week will see the setting up of another area at the West Demerara Regional Hospital which will cater to healthy people who are under observation.
Several persons drawn from health facilities across the country have been undergoing training to deal with the Ebola virus, a state of affairs that Dr Persaud is convinced will ensure that Guyana will be well prepared to combat its impact.

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