Concerns persist over delayed Cath Lab for CHI

Mar 17, 2015 News

“Something is very rotten here,” said a senior health official yesterday of a protracted delay in the completion of a new Cardiac Cath Laboratory at the Caribbean Heart Institution (CHI) and by extension the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). The lab is intended to improve the delivery of care.
The official, who requested anonymity given the perceived sensitivity of the issue, vocalised remarks in this regard in light of plans announced last week for the remodelling and extension works valued at $236 million on the GPHC’s Maternity Unit.
The official mused over the fact that while the expansion of the Unit can be considered a dire need the same can also be said of the Cath Lab which, once completed, could cater to a vast number of patients suffering from cardiac related conditions.
In fact the official has speculated that the delay in the project could be a deliberate attempt to cause CHI to “fold”.
CHI which has already been in existence for eight years was founded by Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Gary Stephens, who also holds the position of Chief Executive Officer. He, with the support of Government, was able to bring into being CHI as a private/public partnership in October 2006.
However, since Dr. Stephens has obligations at the Maimonides Medical Centre in New York, he offers his physical expertise here on a visiting basis. Moreover, CHI is managed by Dr. Mahendra Carpen, an Interventional Cardiologist.
Recognised as a crucial asset to the health sector CHI was offering extensive cardiac care.
Based on reports reaching this publication, around 2011 the management of CHI had consulted with Government about acquiring a new Cardiac Cath Lab, in light of the fact that its equipment was nearing the end of its lifespan.
Reports are that there were expectations that moves would have been made to put in place a lab that can do both cardiology intervention and cardiac surgery in a single room using a Hybrid machine.
With a Hybrid machine in place, CHI, and by extension Guyana, could have been the first in the Caribbean to offer such advanced technology.
Construction of the Cath Lab should have been completed within two months but more than a year later the project is still not completed. The Hybrid machine, which was delivered by the United States-based General Electric Company, was placed in a corner of the ground floor of the hospital covered by a tarpaulin.
Dr. Stephens shared his concerns about the delay in the completion of the project coupled with the fact that no explanation has been forthcoming from the Ministry. He intimated that “any day now our machine can suffer a catastrophic failure and even if it doesn’t, I don’t see us surviving the next six months.”
Another official, close to the operation of the Health Ministry, has however attributed the delay to the wanting management ability of those tasked with overseeing the project.
This publication understands that the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital, a privately operated hospital, was able to complete a similar Cardiac Cath Lab in a short period and at a fraction of the cost as was allocated by the Ministry of Health for the CHI Lab.
This publication has also been reliably informed that the state of affairs has already started to have a dire impact on CHI with some of its skilled personnel opting to tender their resignations. And there are unconfirmed reports that it has been quite a task recruiting new skills.
Officials out of CHI are currently tight-lipped on the situation as is Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran. The Minister desperately avoided members of the media on Friday following a sod turning ceremony for the expansion of the Maternity Unit.
The Minister, commenting on the CHI situation earlier, had noted that while the Ministry was looking to expand its collaborations there still exists a need to partner with CHI which is a company that is legally incorporated here in Guyana.
“I don’t want to get in the head of Dr. Stephens; I don’t know that he has expressed confusion (but) we are moving ahead as per normal creating this wide, expanding, non-exclusionary (partnership)…welcoming everybody on board, providing of course that they have the necessary requisite and claim to fame,” said the Minister.

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Concerns persist over delayed Cath Lab for CHI

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