10 children to undergo heart surgeries as part of GPHC’s Paediatric Cardiac Programme

Mar 22, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – Ten children will this week undergo open heart surgeries as part of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) Paediatric Cardiac Programme which was re-launched on Monday.

The programme is a collaboration between the Ministry of Health, GPHC, Gift of Life International and the Guyana Program to Advance Cardiac Care (GPACC). The programme was initially launched in 2015 but ended a few years ago.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony during one of his COVID-19 update appearances back in 2021 had mentioned that Guyana would soon restart this programme as several children have been diagnosed with various cardiac pathologies that require surgery.

CEO of GPHC, Mr. Robbie Rambarran and Dr. Tarik Davidson Head of GPHC’s Paediatric Department (front centre) alongside officials of Gift of Life and the GPHC during Monday’s re-launch programme.

He had shared that the paediatric programme would see a team of overseas doctors that would travel to Guyana at least once a year to work with the local doctors and nurses to perform the surgeries.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPHC, Mr. Robbie Rambarran at the re-launch of the programme announced that 10 children will undergo heart surgeries through the programme.

Rambarran said that there has been a backlog of over 100 cases since 2018. He said that some of the cases require urgent care and so the most urgent of the cases were prioritized.

Prepared rooms at the GPHC’s Paediatric Care Unit where the patients will be cared for.

The CEO thanked Gift of Life for partnering and volunteering with the hospital.

Twenty overseas healthcare professionals from various countries have since traveled to Guyana to assist in the performance of the surgeries. Mr. Rambarran said that the professionals include doctors, respiratory therapists and nurses. The team is expected to perform two surgeries daily; the surgeries are scheduled to be completed on Friday.

“These are kids from the age of eight months to 16 years that would be benefitting from this mission,” he mentioned.

Mr. Rambarran stated that the mission is not just for surgical intervention but will help the hospital in capacity building, training of nurses, doctors and other staff.

“I want to remind each one of us that what we are embarking on is bigger than anyone of us. It’s in the best interest of these kids who need a new lease of life and to the best interest of this institution and by extension, building the capacity that would benefit each one of us and it would help in providing the best in healthcare to the people of Guyana,” the CEO expressed.

Speaking briefly yesterday, Head of GPHC’s Paediatric Department, Dr. Tarik Davidson shared that currently there are over 100 patients with congenital heart defects in Guyana that require surgical intervention.

He noted that the programme is just the first set in a series of steps that need to be taken to address that backlog of patients that are there.

Briefly, CEO of Gift of Life International, Rob Raylman said that his organization is the largest humanitarian organization in the world that provides cardiac care to children in the developing world.

Raylman commended the Government of Guyana and the hospital for having such a programme onboard that would see not only children’s lives being saved but it would help in strengthening the country’s health care system.

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Dr. Frank Anthony, heart, Minister of Health, Mr. Robbie Rambarran, Paediatric Cardiac Programme

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