Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Skin grafting at GPHC’s Burn Care Unit to improve with expensive endowment
Some may say that it was long overdue, but the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Burn Care Unit was yesterday the recipient of a dermatome, which will help improve the skin grafting service
Mrs Pamela Harakh hands over the dermatome to Dr Shilindra Rajkumar yesterday.
offered to patients with severe burns.
The surgical equipment valued at approximately Cdn $13,500 (just over G$2 million) represented yet another crucial endowment from the Canada-based Caribbean North Charities Foundation, formerly the Guyana Burn and Healthcare Charitable Foundation, headed by Mr Harry Harakh and his wife Pamela. The two are Guyanese residing in Canada.
Mrs Harakh yesterday handed over the dermatome to GPHC’s Burn Care Specialist, Dr. Shilindra Rajkumar, at a simple ceremony held at the hospital’s Resource Centre.
In explaining the use of the equipment in the process of grafting, which is deemed a crucial procedure for burns patients, Dr. Rajkumar said that it would help to control the depth at which skin is removed.
“With the dermatome you can take (thin slices of) skin from any part of the body; so if a person were to come in right now and they have burns on the usual sites (that we take skin from) such as the back and the thigh…we can (instead) take skin from any (other) part of the body.”
Without the dermatome, he said, skin grafting at the GPHC was done with a knife which not only limits where skin could be taken from, but the process understandably didn’t yield the ideal results.
Even as he observed that the dermatome is a costly investment, he stressed that it is a very worthwhile one.
“There is no cost to life and management of a hospital; the patients are going to be benefiting from it, and it is going to make our lives far, far more easy.”
Currently the Burn Care Unit is staffed by two surgeons, including Dr. Rajkumar, a medical officer and 12 nurses.
According to Mr Harakh, who along with a visiting team, was present at the handing over ceremony yesterday, although he is not a medical doctor, through the Foundation he has access to a significant number of people in the medical field who have been offering their technical expertise to the GPHC.
“That is the special skill we bring to the table,” said Harakh as he underscored that “we have kind of ‘niched’ ourselves to the Burn Care Unit.”
He pointed out that while the Foundation has been helping to meet the needs of the Unit, a keen mission is to make organisations as self-sustainable as possible.
The Foundation, he disclosed, is one that thrives on donations, with substantial funds forthcoming from Caribbean supporters. But according to Harakh, “if you were to significantly add the financial contribution that comes from Canada through our efforts, it has been very significant over the last 15 years.”
Speaking at the ceremony yesterday too, was Charge d’Affaires of the Canadian High Commission, Mr Robert Hart, who in lauding the support to the GPHC highlighted that “it takes a tremendous amount of effort on the part of a lot of people, not only in third world countries but also in first world countries, to assist in providing the resources that are necessary to help people.”
Reminiscing on the evolution of the support channelled to the Burn Care Unit by the Harakhs, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Michael Khan, emphasised that they have been “very instrumental” to the realisation of a Unit that offers quality service.
“We at GPHC are very proud of our Burn Care Unit, and especially the hardworking nurses there, because they spend a lot of time (there)…and you have to have a lot of guts to take care of these patients, and sometimes when you see them you want to know ‘can I work with these people?’ They have been doing a very good job!” Khan emphasised.
He is optimistic that the Unit will continue to benefit from the invaluable support that has been provided by the Foundation over the years.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Chilling reminders that we are not safe
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Georgetown was plunged into shock and terror last week after two heinous incidents laid... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
