Linden Hospital refutes report of shortages, malfunctioning equipment

Oct 06, 2017 News

The administration of the Region Ten’s premier health facility, the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) has debunked claims that the LHC is in dire need of staff and supplies.
In a detailed response to the press, the hospital which operates under the purview of the Ministry of Public Health, noted that it remains committed to providing a high quality health care service in an accountable and transparent manner.
The management and staff of the LHC held that it functions at a very high level of efficiency and standard.
“If we were to use Maternal and Child Health Safety as the bench mark or indicator of the high quality of Health Service achieved over the years, then the need for close monitoring, supervision and continuous training of our young doctors would be understood and appreciated.”
Since September 14, 2013, Linden Hospital Complex has trained in excess of 64 Guyanese doctors, who completed their training in Cuba.
“Six of these doctors have gone to China to specialize, two are currently on Hospital Management Programme at the University of Guyana, one was released for one year to pursue studies in England on Hospital Finance and Planning.”
Five of these doctors are placed at Health Centres around Linden; one is assigned at Kwakwani Hospital, and doctors were re-assigned to other regions and function at the level of Regional Health Officer Region One.
Additionally, the statement outlined that there are currently 30 General Medical Officers. There are seven doctors in General Surgery; three General Surgery Specialists and four General Medical Officers.
Specialists are on call every third week whereas G.M.O take calls every four days. The General Surgery Schedule shows a clear indication of fair distribution of work.
Furthermore, none of the specialists was sent on leave for the period of January to August, during which two hundred and two (202) general surgeries were done.
The LHC staff specifically rebutted reports that audits had not been conducted at the facility. According to them, several audits were done on Pharmacy this year, both internal and external.
“Relative to the claim of untimely requisition of drugs and the alleged collusion between staff members and private pharmacy owners to have drugs sold, the LHC wishes to verify that recent and past audits have never shown any discrepancy in terms of inventory management and dispensing protocols at the pharmacy and that order quantities are calculated according to the standard used across the country and as set out by the LMIS manual.”
The LHC’s X-Ray machine has never been in a state of disrepair and is presently functioning well, the hospital management said.
According to the data released from the LHC, patients did not have to pay for an X-Ray because the machine is privately owned since the hospital’s machine is broken.
“The LHC has never collected money from any patient to have an X-ray completed.”
For the period of January to August 2017, the LHC successfully completed 6196 x-rays which includes dental X-rays.
Additionally, the LHC conducts as much as twenty five (25) ECG examinations daily.

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