Public Health Ministers, EMS experts discuss way forward for EMS programme

Jan 17, 2017 News

Launched last November, a national Emergency Medical Services (EMS) programme was intended to change the landscape of emergency response.

Public Health Ministers Ms. Volda Lawrence and Dr. Karen Cummings discuss future of EMS programme with EMS experts and Dr Bux (backing camera)

The initiative, a brainchild of Dr. Zulfikar Bux, is one designed to allow the emergency responses of the Guyana Fire Service and the public health sector to be merged.
In the past persons dialled 912 to report a fire and 913 to report medical emergencies. However, with the launch of the EMS programme people they can now dial a single number – 912 – to access both services. The programme, however, has the potential to incorporate the response of the Guyana Police Force.
Dr. Bux, the national EMS Medical Director and members of the Vanderbilt Medical Centre in the United States recently met with new Senior Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence, and Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, to discuss the future of emergency medicine in Guyana.
Bringing the EMS programme to fruition saw a great deal of collaboration between Dr. Bux and the Fire Service. However, Dr. Bux disclosed that there was immense support forthcoming from the Vanderbilt Medical Centre.
The medical response aspect of the programme will see the utilisation of three ambulances complete with trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) on board to render emergency services. A total of 90 EMTs were trained to be a part of the programme.
It is expected that within five years the entire nation will be able to benefit from the EMS programme. According to Dr. Bux at the launch of the programme, “We are asking members of the public to cooperate with us and to understand that we will not be able to meet the needs of the (entire) system at this point in time.
“It is very new; it is in a phase where we are trying to ensure that we get everything right so that when we do become a full national system we wouldn’t have to go back to the planning table and say these are the mistakes that are being made.” He, moreover, insisted that “the onus is on both the medical and fire (entities) to get it right and we will get it right…the commitment is there and we will get it right over time,” the Medical Director assured.
At the November 2016 launch of the EMS programme, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said that efforts will be made to take into consideration all the facets of what is necessary for emergency response.
He added that the programme will fully embrace international best practices while at the same time seek to meet the expectation of the public and also to the satisfaction of the persons who will be the recipient of the service.
Gentle disclosed that the Fire Service had also procured two more ambulances that were slated to arrive in Guyana early this year to boost the EMS programme.