Guyana Ministry of Health and RAD-AID announce partnership to expand Radiology capabilities in Guyana

Guyana’s Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a new partnership with the radiology nonprofit organization, RAD-AID International, to increase and improve radiology capabilities and services throughout the nation of Guyana.  The collaboration entails the expansion of medical imaging equipment, Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), electronic health interconnectivity, community outreach, as well as clinical education for nurses, technologists and physicians.

The partnership builds upon RAD-AID’s work to establish Guyana’s first radiology residency at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) since 2017, which recently graduated Guyana’s first class of in-country trained radiologists. Over the last four years, RAD-AID also implemented and supported new computed tomography (CT) services and PACS in GPHC, New Amsterdam and Bartica Hospitals, along with training of physicians, nurses and technologists for IV contrast procedures, radiologic/ultrasound image-quality, patient-safety, and women’s health outreach (with support from Ambra Health, Philips, Bayer and Google Cloud). During the COVID-19 pandemic, RAD-AID increased remote teaching and clinical support to Guyana’s hospitals, and delivered innovative medical imaging artificial intelligence implementation and training (with support from Densitas, Koios Medical, and Qure.ai).

Guyana’s Ministry of Health and RAD-AID aim to leverage these achievements to scale up health care resources in Guyana’s low-resource hospitals and facilities. The Ministry is working with RAD-AID to expand healthcare accessibility among medically underserved communities in Guyana, accelerate technology adoption for modernizing the country’s health information platforms, and connect tertiary care institutions with regional and district health facilities.

“Radiology (Imaging diagnostics) is a critical part of quality medicine. With this collaboration, we seek to elevate both technology and human resource capacity throughout the country, bringing better health care to people” said Dr. Frank Anthony, Honorable Minister of Health of Guyana. “

“We are delighted to collaborate with Guyana’s Ministry of Health for advancing
radiology health services and capabilities in Guyana,” said Dr. Daniel J. Mollura, Founder and CEO of RAD-AID.  “This new partnership will enable RAD-AID to extend the progress at GPHC, New Amsterdam, and Bartica Hospitals, to other health institutions throughout Guyana. We look forward to strengthening technology, innovation, and education for Guyana’s health workers and patients.”

The Ministry of Health intends to have state-of-the-art X-rays and other imaging diagnostics, such as CT, MRI and Ultra Sound more accessible in all Regional Hospitals. The Ministry of Health is also phasing out old technology, phasing out the need for imaging films and use of chemicals which constitute an environmental hazard.

About RAD-AID International

RAD-AID International is a nonprofit (501c3) charitable organization with the mission of increasing and improving radiology and medical imaging for medically underserved regions. RAD-AID delivers radiology education and training through on-site and hands-on teaching of healthcare workers in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as low-resource facilities in medically underserved communities of high-income countries. RAD-AID designs, builds, and implements healthcare infrastructure, imaging equipment, and radiology technology, integrated with clinical training, to accomplish vital radiology capacity-building. The organization consists of over 14,000 volunteers and +80 university-based medical center chapters and operates global health outreach programs in 38 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.  As radiology is vital to most health services, such as cancer treatment, maternal-fetal monitoring, heart disease care, and trauma response, RAD-AID improves the accessibility, safety, and quality of radiology worldwide as an anchor for improving global health. Learn more at www.rad-aid.org

Media Contacts

For Ministry of Health-Guyana: (Facebook) Ministry of Health-Guyana (Instagram) Moh_guyana (Twitter) Ministry of Health-Guyana

For RAD-AID International: General: info@rad-aid.org Daniel J. Mollura, MD

President and CEO dmollura@rad-aid.org @RADAIDIntl (Twitter)

RAD-AID Guyana Program Leadership

Dr. Jamie Surratt, MD jsurratt@rad-aid.org

Dr. Steve Surratt, MD ssurratt@rad-aid.org

Dr. Jonathan Vaccaro, MD jvaccaro@rad-aid.org

Dr. Angelita Sue, MD asue@rad-aid.org