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Health Ministry on mission to raise ‘SMART Hospital’ awareness

Jan 22, 2019 News

 

Aimed at raising awareness about the importance of the SMART Hospital initiative, the Ministry of Public Health yesterday collaborated with the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation [PAHO/WHO] to unveil a billboard.
The billboard, which has been mounted in the compound of the East Bank Demerara Diamond Regional Hospital, seeks to enlighten the public of the £38M health infrastructure project which, according to PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, will link structural safety and disaster resilience with resources. In essence, he said that the initiative will seek to reduce interventions at a reasonable ‘cost-to-benefit’ ratio, even as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
He, along with Senior Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence, yesterday appealed to media operatives to lend their support to popularize the initiative aimed at transforming the public health sector for the better.
Under the contract brokered with the United Kingdom-based Department For International Development [DFID], with PAHO/WHO acting as the executing agency, five public health institutions namely the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, Demerara/Mahaica [Region Four]; Leonora Cottage Hospital, Region Three [Essequibo Islands/West Demerara]; Lethem Regional Hospital, [Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo]; Mabaruma District Hospital, Barima/Waini [Region One] and Paramakatoi Health Centre, [Potaro/Siparuni (Region Eight] will be redesigned and retrofitted to conform to the SMART hospital blueprint.
The project is said to result in enhanced safety standards, a reduction in downtime and damaged hospitals from natural hazards, as well as a reduction in water and electricity consumption, according to Dr. Adu-Krow.
A document circulated at yesterday’s billboard unveiling explained that 30 healthcare workers were trained to apply the SMART Hospital protocol, which includes the hospital safety index and a green checklist standard.
When she spoke, Minister Lawrence noted that East Bank residents will benefit greatly from the ‘Smart Standards’ of the Diagnostic Centre, since it is strategically located on the busy carriageway, which facilitates especially passengers travelling from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
“We view the Diamond Diagnostic Centre as a pivotal element within the whole health spectrum, and this initiative will certainly provide care at a higher level for those persons who would want to use the services,” Lawrence said.
She explained that much work is being administered into the human resources to provide specialist doctors with the necessary tools, space and accommodation to ensure patients receive the best services possible.
Two years ago, Guyana embarked on the SMART hospitals programme, which includes retrofitting for selected health structures, making them resilient to the impact of nature, including natural disasters.
SMART Hospitals are increasingly viewed as being at the intersection of medicine, information, health, and business using information, communication and technology to support healthcare programmes.
Because of these advantages, the PAHO/WHO Representative has noted that the SMART concept should be universalised in the Guyanese health care system to ensure all are functional, during and after severe crises. According to him, too, equity, solidarity, respect for all and integrity in health services provision in the SMART programme, intertwines with PAHO/WHO’s work plan, and the hemispheric and global body will maintain its support for the improvement plan being monetised by DFID.

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