Malfunctioning x-ray machines force GPHC to rely on private institutions

Jan 10, 2018 News

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC] has in recent days been relying on other health facilities to provide x-ray services to its patients.
This publication has been reliably informed that since the weekend no x-ray machine at the premier health institution has been working, thus patients in need of this service are being taken to other institutions. GPHC has multiple machines.
Among the institutions that it has been relying on are the privately-operated Guyana Cancer Institute, which is situated in its compound, and the Woodlands Hospital.
In an invited comment on the state of affairs, GPHC’s Chief Executive Officer, Retired Brigadier George Lewis, said the dilemma currently being faced by the institution is linked to an imaging problem.
Even as he admitted that GPHC has been utilising the services of private institutions, Lewis concurred that the x-ray machines are inoperable because of a technical problem with the production of images.
“As a result we have an arrangement with a number of private health care institutions to provide that service to our patients,” said Lewis.
Lewis reminded that the GPHC is tasked with offering a free service to patients, but is currently faced with a challenge that undermines its ability to do so. He however noted that patients must be patient and understand that such situations may occur at times. The GPHC in this case, he said, “has put in place measures to ensure that emergency and necessary x-ray services are done…that is what we are dealing with.”
A number of patients who reportedly sought assistance from private institutions because of the situation at the GPHC had shared their concerns with this publication. Many of them claimed that they were required to seek this service at private institutions because their conditions were not ruled as pressing enough.
In commenting on the x-ray dilemma, Lewis did not share the cost the hospital has thus far incurred or is prepared to expend as a result of the prevailing situation. He, however, did assure that moves are apace to address the situation in the shortest possible time.

GPHC’s CEO, Retired Brigadier George Lewis

As such it is expected that those patients who do not require emergency x-rays will be attended to when the machines become operable, Lewis said. He also noted that patients who have the wherewithal are free to independently seek x-ray services at private institutions.
And while there have been reports that suggest that the inoperable GPHC x-ray machines have been linked to limited or a lack of maintenance, Lewis did not corroborate this.
During a visit of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Service at the GPHC in May of last year, among the concerns that were raised was the lack of maintenance of some of the equipment. Officials of the institution had revealed then that “the issue of maintenance of equipment has been challenging…since there is a lack of qualified persons in the country to maintain [some] equipment, hence maintenance could take some time.”
In fact there were calls made for portable x-ray machines to improve the efficiency of the hospital’s operation.

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