Govt investing heavily to combat diabetes

The country’s primary healthcare system continues to play a major role in preventing diabetes as the government has implemented a myriad of measures to treat patients.

Among the measures is the continuous investment in training sessions for healthcare workers in every administrative region across the country.

This was revealed by the Technical Officer for Diabetes, Dr Nandishaw Ramsingh during the ‘Health Matters’ Programme aired Thursday on the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page.

“Here at the Ministry of Health, we have been having outreaches. These outreaches are mostly training. We have been able to go into the regions and train our health workers, especially those in the primary healthcare because we feel that prevention is the best cure,” Dr Ramsingh said.

Diabetes is among the non-communicable diseases that plague Guyanese, and for this reason, the government has earmarked $900 million in its 2023 budget towards addressing these problems.

Dr Ramsingh further explained that primary healthcare workers are the first layer of medical staff that patients interact with when they visit the health centres and hospitals, before meeting a doctor.

Constantly expanding the knowledge of healthcare professionals will improve the quality of advice being given to diabetic patients. The purpose is to provide early detection and ensure there is preventative care.

“We need our primary healthcare workers to be able to talk with patients, let them know what their risk factors are, let them know that there are other ways to deal with it rather than just coming and picking up medications. Let them know that there are small daily routines that they can include in their lives to improve the chances of living with diabetes,” Dr Ramsingh explained.

The health sector was also allocated a total of $500 million specifically for the training of healthcare professionals in the 2023 budget.

In September, the government in partnership with Mount Sinai facilitated a training initiative to introduce new standards of diabetes guidelines for primary healthcare workers.

The new guidelines allow healthcare workers to understand the first line of treatment for patients and identify risk factors associated with dangerous glucose levels.

Additionally, the government has budgeted an additional $1 billion, specifically for retrofitting and upgrading existing health centres, health posts and other facilities across the country.

Owing to these investments, Dr Ramsingh is urging diabetic patients to take advantage of the services of the primary healthcare facilities.

“You can have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, but you are able to live a normal life. You are able to get the care and attention you need. Our government spends a lot of money into the healthcare system and so we want persons to know that they can be able to access care,” Dr Ramsingh stressed.