Law mandates all hospitals to report diseases of int’l concern to Health Ministry – CMO

Feb 29, 2020 News

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The law requires that all hospitals, including private facilities, report to the Ministry of Public Health all diseases of international concern. This is according to Chief Medical Officer [CMO], Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, as he alluded to plans engaged by the Ministry to counter any possible case of the novel coronavirus.

While some of the diseases of international concern are well known, Dr. Persaud pointed out that there are some that health workers may not be familiar with, and, therefore, hospitals must bring them to the attention of the Ministry. “We have named some [diseases] but if there are unusual occurrences [they have to notify us] because most times we may not know what it is [such as] a disease [detected] in a traveller or [caused] by a particular condition…,” said Dr. Persaud.
According to the CMO, “we have about eight syndromes that we manage including fever with haemorrhage, fever with joint pains, diarrhoeal diseases; we have even included sexually transmitted infections and skin conditions too, because some persons might present [with that].”
Dr. Persaud, who was sharing these views on Kaieteur Radio’s Your Health Matters, revealed that the Ministry, through his office, also requires that hospitals report cases where persons are exposed to chemicals or radioactive material. “If they show signs or symptoms of any of those, they have to immediately notify the Chief Medical Officer, and we take it from there.”
With the global coronavirus threat, the Ministry has been relying heavily on its surveillance capacity. “In order to ensure efficiency of surveillance, I have epidemiology nurses and surveillance officers who would also be regularly interacting with them at both public and private facilities,” said Dr. Persaud.
He revealed too that there are some smaller facilities that “we are working on now, and of recent we were able to identify from some graduates at the University of Guyana, some extra surveillance officers. We have one now on the Essequibo Coast, another young lady in Region Six, who is also getting the system fully operational there, and we are looking at some of the other areas.”
In the outlying areas such as in Linden, Bartica, Mahdia, Mabaruma and Lethem, Dr. Persaud said “we have point persons who have been working along…they have already been engaged with us due to the migrant situation with the Venezuelans and to monitor their health conditions too. We are building on these things as we go along.”
Given the surveillance capacity that the Ministry has been building, Dr. Persaud said that the Ministry is not required to set up a new team with the emergence of “every new disease”.
“The same team, we are upgrading their knowledge, we are providing them with additional training. I myself and my Deputy, Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle, we have been going out, we have done training at all the ports. I have gone to Mahdia, Dr. Boyle went to Lethem, so we are fanning out a lot…we were in Region Six doing some training [and] we plan to expand even more on this effort,” Dr. Persaud assured.
Classified as COVID-19, this novel coronavirus has been regarded a global threat. However, the CMO has noted that to safeguard one’s self could be as simple as embracing rigid hygienic measures, including regular washing of the hands.
In dealing with the threat of the virus here, CMO said, “Our point of contact would be anyone who has travelled to China within the last 21 days and we have extended even for persons coming from that region [Asia]. “A lot of times persons may go through, because of travel routes and airlines and so on, Korea, Japan or to Singapore; there are varying ways, so we track those also,” said Dr. Persaud.
As a result of this threat, passengers arriving in Guyana are required to undergo health checks, including a temperature check, and a detailed questionnaire is completed with them, Dr. Persaud said, as a means of acquiring necessary information about their travels.
Thus far there have been about 53 persons who were flagged and screened upon entry, Dr. Persaud revealed.
“So far, of the 53, we have had four, including a child, who wasn’t well. [For] those persons we sent out medical teams directly to their homes wherever possible…,” said Dr. Persaud who assured that their symptoms were eventually ruled out as coronavirus.
About two other persons have reportedly been screened at private hospitals and their symptoms were eventually ruled out as the virus. In fact, according to Dr. Persaud, one of the persons screened was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.

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