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Baby Heart Foundation likely to withdraw heart care support

Sep 17, 2015 News

Guyana, through the public health sector, has in recent months been able to effectively tackle a number of paediatric heart-related complications at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
This has been possible with much needed international support.
The International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF) commonly referred to as the Baby Heart Foundation, has offered unprecedented support towards paediatric heart care at the GPHC in this regard.
A number of paediatric heart surgeries were recently conducted by a visiting medical team from the Baby Heart Foundation. The surgeries, conducted as part of the collaboration, were at no cost to patients. The services of the medical experts were offered on a voluntary basis.
But recent information has surfaced that this crucial collaboration is likely to come to an unceremonious end.
According to reliable information reaching this publication, “the programme is about to be cancelled.” And it is being alleged that the developing situation is one that is linked to failure on the part of the Ministry of Health to honour certain agreed obligations.
While this publication has not been privy to the details of the agreement made between the Health Ministry and Baby Heart Foundation, word was that airfare, accommodation and some disposables for the visiting medical team were the agreed responsibility of Government.
Instead, there are reports that Government has been seeking to ascertain the salaries of the members of the visiting medical team, a state of affairs that has been deemed “absurd” by a senior health official.
The very official disclosed that it would be a great loss for Guyana if the collaboration is discontinued. He said that “for US$65,000, we got 13 children fixed.” While that sum might be considered high, the publication was reliably informed that this was due to the fact that the programme was a relatively new one. It was however projected to come down to US$2,500 per surgery in a few months, the official said.
In addition, Baby Heart Foundation has donated considerably, in terms of equipment and services, to paediatric care at the GPHC and was poised to do even more, the official intimated. “It would be tragic to lose this programme.”
Although the collaboration was one that was forged by the previous ruling administration it was one that was lauded by Dr George Norton soon after he assumed the portfolio of Minister of Public Health earlier this year.
However, with the apparent non-commitment by Government to continue support that was assured at the start of the collaboration, a well placed source informed that “they (Baby Heart Foundation) have decided to pull the programme from Guyana.”
Attempts to solicit comments on the state of affairs from key health officials yesterday were futile.
One Ministry of Health officer, who has worked closely with the Foundation, said that she was not in a position to comment on the matter yesterday.
The Baby Heart Foundation on its website (www.babyheart.org) states that its mission is to bring the skills, technology and knowledge to cure and care for children with congenital heart disease in developing nations.
And this, the website adds, is done regardless of country of origin, race, religion or gender. “Our goal is to make the need for ICHF obsolete. We work towards this goal through our medical mission trips, where we operate on children and educate local healthcare professionals,” the Foundation mission statement asserts.

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