Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Health Ministry to give CHI subvention for emergency procedures
-says CHI commenced utilizing controversial Cath Lab in May
An agreement between the Ministry of Public Health and the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) is currently being finalized that will allow for CHI to become eligible for a subvention. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Public Health Saturday, the subvention is intended to cover costs incurred by CHI for emergency procedures.
The CHI Cath Lab that was commissioned in May.
CHI, according to information from the Ministry, has recorded an average of 15 cardiac procedures per month ever since the establishment of the Catherisation Laboratory (Cath Lab) last May.
The cardiac catherisation machine, the Ministry has asserted, was procured by the Ministry of Public Health and has been fully functional thereby serving the cardiac needs of the Guyanese population.
It was emphasized that the Lab is not only the largest but the most advanced of any such laboratory in all of the Caribbean.
The CHI Lab has been catering to procedures such as cardiac catherisation and the insertion of cardiac stents, pacemakers, defibrillators and heart valve through the groin. All the procedures, the Ministry’s statement said, were performed by Dr. Mahendra Carpen, CHI’s Resident Cardiologist.
It was also noted that the establishment of CHI has taken cardiac health care to another level since it opened its doors in 2006 at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as a public-private partnership.
The Ministry sought to highlight that cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally with an estimated 17.5 million people dying in 2012. This, it was noted, represents 31 per cent of all global deaths with over three quarters of cardiovascular diseases occurring in low and middle income countries.
With the introduction of CHI, the Ministry’s statement highlighted that Guyana has since recorded a reduction in the need for open heart surgeries.
The Ministry’s statement comes on the heels of recently published information from the Auditor General Report of the fiscal year ended 2015 which was laid in Parliament on Thursday October 13, 2016.
According to the Report a $200 million cauterization machine at the GPHC was not operational when checks were made up to April, 2016.
The machine, according to the Report, was procured by the Ministry of Public Health.
According to the findings of the Audit Office, the former High Dependency Unit (HDU) at the GPHC was converted to house a “cardiac cauterisation machine”.
“The Ministry of Health in 2012, the Report said, expended the $200 million in question to acquire “cardiac cauterization laboratory materials”.
But there were apparent issues with the setting up of the laboratory from the inception as, according to the Audit Report, although procured in 2012 the machine was still not received up to the time of reporting in 2013.
There are reports that suggest that the former administration deliberately stalled the process of setting up the Cath Lab.
However, by 2015, when the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government took office, the machine was in the possession of the GPHC. But although physical verification of the equipment and components were conducted in 2015 at that time, the equipment was received but not in operation, the Report revealed.
There were, however, some initial questions as to whether the Cath Lab referenced in the Auditor General Report was the same one the Ministry said is being used by CHI. This was due to the fact that at the commissioning of CHI’s Cath Lab in May, Minister Public Health, Dr. George Norton, had pegged the cost at $2.1 billion.
But the Minister in commenting on the state of affairs said, that he couldn’t be absolutely sure about the cost without seeking to verify. He, however, did assure that the CHI’s Cath Lab was in fact the one that was referenced in the Audit Report.
An official close to operation of the Public Health Ministry revealed that while the cauterization machine did in fact cost $200 million, additional cost for setting up the former HDU facility, caused the total amount to set up the Cath Lab to amount to the announced $2.1 billion.
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