Lowered Infant Mortality rate Seen in Guyana—Dr. Narendra Singh

Jun 04, 2019 News

Over the last seven to eight years Guyana has seen a significant decline in its infant mortality rate as it has benefitted from much ne

Dr. Winsome Scott

eded facilities to help curb the issue.
Dr. Narendra Singh, president of the Guyana Help The Kids Foundation (GHTK) Canada said that he left Guyana a long time ago and did studies in paediatric care. Upon returning approximately 12 years ago he visited the Georgetown Public Hospital and was a little bit taken aback by the high neonatal mortality.
“I was asked to give a talk at one of the first scientific conferences. My talk was essentially that Guyana needed to improve neonatal care,” he said. If Guyana was going to look at the high under-five mortality rate it first had to take a closer look at the neonatal mortality at that time.
Most of the deaths that occurred in children under five years old often occurred under one month of age. This accounted for 75-80 percent of the infant mortality deaths.
Six of the major birthing centres in the country benefitted from Neonatal Intensive Care Units, compliments of the Guyana Help The Kids Foundation (GHTK) in collaboration with a few other entities

Dr. Narendra Singh

including the Ministry of Public Health over the past few years.
Around that same time the units were commissioned Guyana was experiencing a high rate in infant deaths, especially those born prematurely. With the introduction of the Paediatric Post Graduate Programme, there has been a decrease in infant mortality.
The medical professionals are being trained not only to properly handle these situations but to also operate the equipment that is now available.
Dr Narendra Singh said when they started looking at the issue and before implementing the programme he looked at sustainability and comprehensiveness.
“So that when they were not here anymore the local physicians and nurses could assume the care. Secondly they wanted to make sure that whatever program is introduced in Guyana covers every single baby, including all the regional hospitals.”
Dr. Winsome Scott, a paediatrician and the president of GHTK (Guyana), told this publication that even though they do not have these personnel permanently stationed at the out of town facilities as yet, they make frequent checks and engage with the practitioners there to give advice and some level of training on how to deal with neonatal emergencies so as to reduce referrals to GPHC.
So far their efforts have been fruitful. They are looking forward to a future of even further reduced neonatal mortality rate with the continuation of training, continued engagement in the residency programme and conferences.

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