Health Minister lauds work of physiotherapists, rehab workers during Covid

-an essential service often overlooked

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr Frank Anthony says physiotherapists and other rehabilitation workers have been performing commendably during the Covid pandemic, ensuring patients recover to resume quality lives after care. 

The Minister made this statement during a rehabilitation managers’ meeting at the Cara Lodge on Monday. 

“Part of our response has gone very much unnoticed, and it is important that we talk about that because for these patients to be returned to some level of normalcy, they really need that form of rehabilitation, or else they would have difficulty breathing, and they have all kinds of other manifestations that we know happen with Covid,” Dr. Anthony said.

The Health Minister said rehabilitation would become an essential part of the ‘conversation’ as Covid patients recover. He noted that over 12,000 people were infected with the disease, and while the majority recovered, several of them had to return to the hospital months later.

“These are younger patients, by the way. They came back to the hospital, and when we look back at the history, they had a milder form of COVID, but they were now presenting with cardiac complications.”

Minister Anthony noted that these occurrences are not unique to Guyana but have been happening worldwide. 

The Minister commended the essential workers for their role in the Covid unit, adding that he knows it could be stressful. He said while rehabilitation is one of the Ministry’s formal programmes, with its budget, “We need to do more, and we need to restructure it in a way that allows for much more to be done.”

Meanwhile, in her report, the Director of Rehabilitation Services, Dr. Ariane Mangar, said there are physiotherapists currently stationed in Regions One, Five, Six, Seven, Nine and Ten. There are also plans to deploy a physiotherapist to Charity in Region Two. 

Dr. Mangar said two physiotherapists were stationed at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention at Liliendaal, who in this year alone would have treated over 850 patients. She noted the two physiotherapists see at least 25 persons every day, and there are efforts to expand these services to other areas. 

“There is still a need for physiotherapists because as we expand our services into the hinterland and with the Covid hospital, we still find that we are short on hands and we really need physiotherapists at GPHC, Palms and the Ptolemy Reid Centre and West Dem and especially that we will be opening new services at Festival City and Supply Health Centre.”

There are also plans to decentralise rehabilitation services. “We don’t want persons from Mabaruma having to take a boat to come to Georgetown just to be measured for a prosthetic limb and then have to go back and come back again to be fitted. We want this to be done within the regions,” she said. 

The Director also noted a recent upsurge in amputations across the country. 

“We have actively been tracking and treating patients in the hinterland with childhood disabilities, amputees, stroke and spinal cord injuries, and this will help us to develop a national registry of these persons which can then help us to plan better as we move forward with our assisted devices for patients so that we can have things that are relevant to our patients,” Dr. Mangar said. 

She also revealed that in a few weeks, the rehabilitation department would embark on a new strategic plan in keeping with the Ministry of Health’s objectives. 

The rehabilitation programme offers audiology, speech, and physiotherapy services at the Open Doors Centre, the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, and the Cheshire Home.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Narine Singh also attended the meeting.