Latest update December 1st, 2024 1:35 AM
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IDB finds 94% of Guyana’s health facilities have no access to treated water
– more than 80% can’t access basic medicines
Kaieteur News – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) believes its latest US$160M line of credit to help Guyana strengthen its healthcare network is more than justified, especially when one takes into account the findings of a 2022 nationwide assessment of 330 health facilities.
The Georgetown Public Hospital, Guyana’s Premier Health Facility
The IDB in one of its loan documents said the survey found that many of the facilities require infrastructure rehabilitation, construction and/or upgrade and equipment replacement or provision. The financial institution said 20 percent of the buildings had no electricity, and only 60% of buildings received water continuously during operating hours. In addition, 94 percent of the facilities did not receive treated water. Regarding structural, architectural, and operational integrity, 24 of the buildings were judged to require immediate rehabilitation and/or construction.
Expounding further, the Bank said the country’s principal national reference hospital, the Georgetown Public Hospital, requires significant infrastructure investments to improve patient flows, alleviate overcrowding, reduce the risk of cross-contamination, and expand key clinical medicine and surgery as well as support services (imaging, laboratory, logistics and administration). Similarly, the New Amsterdam and Linden Regional Hospitals, strategic for providing services to the country’s interior, were deemed to require rehabilitation in multiple service areas.
The assessment also found significant gaps in the availability of medical equipment and essential items, including medicines. For instance, only 76% of hospitals were equipped with a doppler machine, 68% with a sterilizer/autoclave, and 48% with an ultrasound machine. Equipment and sets for uterine evacuation with Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) were present in 32% of hospitals, and IUD insertion sets were available in 28% of hospitals. Only 17% of health posts that provide immunization services had cold storage available on site.
Furthermore, the IDB said incinerators and sterilizer-shredder systems for medical waste disposal are generally unavailable, and in 54% of buildings, this type of waste was openly burned. The bank also stated that over 50% of health posts and over 30% of health centers have no access to an ambulance to transfer patients to a higher level of care, thereby undermining timely referrals, especially in the country’s interior.
It was also noted that more than 80% of hospitals had continuous availability of medicines such as anticonvulsants, antibiotics, and uterotonics.
The IDB said, “All these deficiencies negatively affect the integrity and continuity of service provision and proper functioning of health services networks.”
It noted nonetheless that Government has been working on a National Strategic Plan for Health 2022-2030 (still unpublished), which intends to promote a model based on the principles of Primary Health Care (PHC) through an Integrated Health Service Delivery Network (IHSDN) approach to achieve universal access and coverage. Essential functions include healthcare delivery model, governance, financing, human resources, delivery of services, evidence informed decision making, supply chain, emergency preparedness, strategic partnerships, occupational safety and health, and priority health programs and health determinants. To address key areas of weakness, the MOH is also preparing a Human Resource Development Plan, with the assistance of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and a Health Infrastructure Transformation Plan.
Kaieteur News understands that the 2022 budget incorporates financing for improvements to primary level care infrastructure (approximately US$5 million) and to initiate construction of four general hospitals and one specialty hospital as well as replacement of four existing hospitals (approximately US$90 million). To contribute to these strategies and plans, the Government requested that the present operation focus on infrastructure improvement, and expansion and equipment upgrade in three priority hospitals that benefited from investments under previous IDB projects.
With project support, it also wants to build on successful experiences in digital health (teleophthalmology/ teleradiology and initial efforts with electronic health records), which will help expand access to specialist consultations and diagnostics in the country’s hinterlands, and finance key health functions.
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