Integrated Health Service Delivery Network introduced to Reg. 7
─ Plan of Action being drafted
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, March 14, 2019
Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region 7) is the eighth district which will be implementing the Integrated Health Service Delivery Network (IHSDN). Healthcare providers in the region are meeting to learn of this network and to draft a plan of action which fosters its efficient and effective implementation.
From March 13 to 15 the Region Seven Community Health Workers, nurses, medical technologists and senior health staff are involved in the three-day exercise, that will equip them with the requisite knowledge to produce a network, fashioned uniquely to the needs and availability of resources the region.
Chairman of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni region, Gordon Bradford welcomed the IHSDN highlighting the communication aspect of the initiative. “I think that this integrated system would allow us even better communication and better interaction with those persons in the far-flung areas and it’s a forward movement for the health sector and it is a developmental process we can only benefit from,” the RC noted.
PAHO/WHO defines the Integrated Health Service Delivery Network as a network of organisations that provides, or make arrangements to provide, equitable, comprehensive, integrated, and continuous health services to a defined population and is willing to be held accountable for its clinical and economic outcomes and the health status of the population served. Essentially, IHSDN is a network which will strengthen primary health care locally.
The IHSDN has, thus far, been implemented in all the regions except 5 and 8. All 10 regions are expected to have launched the network by the end of April 2019.
Ever since the pilot of the IHSDN in Regions 1, 4, 9 and 10, Director of Regional and Clinical Services, Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Kay Shako has been emphasising the critical importance of such a network in Guyana’s Health sector.
“WHO defines health as the state of physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity and when we look at healthcare, we know that it’s mostly the patient’s medical care which is being looked after so it’s only acute conditions are being looked after.”
Dr. Shako cited the example of a patient attending a health centre for the treatment of hypertension, and the doctors are inclined to medicate the patient and send them away. However, she said that social determinants causing hypertension must be investigated and then be considered for an immediate solution through the network.
“That is why this is going to call for a collaborative effort, it’s not only the Ministry of Public Health, but it is different sectors. Government, non-governmental, civil society, the community,” she stated.
PAHO’s National Consultant on Health Systems and Services, Ulex Fung identified that there is “extreme fragmentation” in the delivery of healthcare with the absence of the IHSDN. This is why PAHO/WHO in Guyana has partnered with the Public Health Ministry to ensure this network is throughout Guyana.
“Extreme fragmentation leads to difficulties in access to services, delivery of services of poor technical quality irrational and inefficient use of resources, an unnecessary increase in production costs and low user satisfaction with services received.”
She added that “it’s (IHSDN) saying, let us step away from curative care and let us focus on primary health care, health promotion, health prevention, health education, community awareness, engage the community, get them involved in treating a patient; a continuum of care.”
Fung explained that the purpose of this initiative is to contribute to the development of primary healthcare-based systems. It is also to provide services that are more accessible and equitable; of higher technical quality and that better fulfils citizens expectations.
Delicia Haynes
Images: Ameer Sattaur