Lack of equipment, personnel hamper healthcare delivery in Regions 2 and 10

Nov 24, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Regional Government Medical Officers (GMO), for Regions 2 and 10, who wished to remain anonymous, said yesterday that a lack of equipment and medical personnel is hampering healthcare delivery at hospitals in these two areas.
“We do not have equipment, we do not have technicians,” the GMO told Kaieteur News.
The Region Ten GMO pointed out that the Mabaruma and New Amsterdam hospitals, along with the Lethem Regional hospital do not have the capability to respond to these emergencies in a timely manner. However, he further explained that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GHPC) is also experiencing this issue.
In terms of ambulances, Region Ten has only two presently; one for COVID-19 patients, and the other for Accident and Emergency response only. He further explained that the oxygen cylinders cannot fit in the ambulances due to their size.
“So we only have one [ambulance]. It’s old. Sometimes it breaks down, sometimes we send patients [in it], when they come back in the ambulance, sometimes the ambulance would break down on the Highway,” she said this was her experience during her tenure at the hospital, before she later transferred to Region Two.
Both GMOs posited that the problem is worse than before, “We do not have pressure machines…Sometimes when I used to work in an emergency, and they get no sugar machine or pulse oximeters. Imagine one of the critical things is getting the oxygen situation right in COVID patients, so depending on the oxygen situation and what you need to give to the patients…We have a few nurses, because no one wants to work at the COVID-19 hospital; because they do not get no risk allowance the nurses do not want to go with the patients,” they noted.
Nevertheless, the GMOs are calling on the Health Ministry to address this matter immediately before it gets even worse.

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