Regional Health Services in Region Six undergoing transformation

Oct 21, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – With a new Regional Health Officer in place, improvements in the health services offered in Region Six have been moving fast apace. Briefing the media on what has been taking place over the past few weeks was Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr. Vishalya Sharma while Regional Chairman David Armogan and Regional Executive Officer Narendra Persaud were also present.
Dr. Sharma disclosed that, as part of the improvements, REO Persaud has been working hand in hand with the Regional Health Service system in the region to ensure that dietary is supplied on time – rhis, the Regional Chairman said has been a sore issue since 2018. Another improvement is that the New Amsterdam Hospital is now boosted with a SLIT Lamp to screen patients with early diabetic retinopathy and signs of changes to the eye in relation to diabetes. The piece of equipment was donated by the Georgetown Public Hospital. X-ray services at the Skeldon Hospital have also been restored after being out of operation for months and emergency and scheduled x-rays have re-commenced at the Port Mourant Hospital. Armogan said that one of the hurdles was the lack of diagnostic capacity, with doctors treating persons based on only symptoms.
“We cannot continue like that in a modern health system,” the Chairman said, “we have to be able to laboratory work on the basis of that we can start making diagnosis and treatment”. He added that a lot of the laboratory equipment was not in operation and that has been remedied. Kaieteur News was also informed that an ambulance that was parked and out of operation has been fixed and will be utilized while other ambulances that were not working because of mechanical issues will be back up and running.
Life for persons who are bedridden will now be somewhat easier as the Specialist Clinics will be restarted. The Specialist Clinic was an initiative executed prior 2015 under the leadership of Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo who was then CEO of the Berbice Regional Health Authority; however, that initiative appeared to be swept under the rug after 2015 and as such has been put on the front burner to be restarted. It will focus on persons who are bedridden at home and in need of medication; a register will be made, and medications will be taken to them at their homes and the necessary checks will be done on them by a health professional. This will be done once a month.
Further, Armogan mentioned that the New Amsterdam Hospital is now equipped with two ventilators and an oxygen concentrator to assist in the fight against COVID. Currently in Region Six, there are five new cases bringing the total number to 60 cases recorded, with 51 recoveries and four deaths. It was also mentioned that the temperature testing that was done at the Berbice Bridge entrance (Palmyra) has been stopped because the Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony has asked that it be discontinued since he believes it is “a waste of resources and so those people can be otherwise utilized in workplaces rather than sitting there day and night”. Since its implementation under then Minister of Health, Volda Lawrence, there were no recorded instances were persons were pulled over after being temperature tested.
Also, the services of pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Bridjmohan have been reinstated. For some time, the country had only one Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh after Dr. Bridjmohan’s contract was not renewed under the APNU+AFC government in 2018. Persons were forced to take their loved one’s bodies to Georgetown for a post mortem to be done, causing them to incur additional expenses. According to Armogan, Dr. Bridjmohan was rehired on contract and will service the entire Region Six, based at the Skeldon Hospital.

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