Guyana, Suriname collaborate on health services

– commit to COVID-19 fight

The Governments of Guyana and Suriname are collaborating on several initiatives that will improve healthcare delivery in both countries.

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony and his Surinamese counterpart, Minister of Public Health, His Excellency, Dr. Amar Ramadhin, met Thursday during the bilateral meeting between delegations of the two states.

Foremost on the agenda was the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“On the health side, we have agreed to set up a working committee between Guyana and Suriname to look at all issues relating to health including COVID-19,” Dr. Anthony told the Department of Public Information (DPI).

He said both countries will seek to ensure that all protocols are “in sync” when the borders are re-opened. This will allow the Port Health Authorities to exchange pertinent information.  

Other areas related to COVID-19 will be addressed when discussions continue next week.  

The two countries are also seeking to collaborate on services for infectious diseases such as Malaria, Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, as well as non-communicable diseases including diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular ailments, among others.

The two nations are exploring collaborating on exchanged hospital services.

“We do particular types of specialty care that might not be available in Suriname and vice versa, maybe we can send patients to them for specialty care. Those agreements we will work them out as the joint groups get going. Hopefully, we can see close collaboration where we can send patients to Suriname and they send to us, depending on the specialty,” Dr. Anthony said.  

Further, the two countries are discussing an arrangement where Guyanese doctors and nurses can benefit from training.  Suriname offers degree-level specialised courses to its health professionals. The ministers are scheduled to meet again virtually next week, when the working group will concretise the areas for collaboration.