Online SOPs for Public Health Ministry’s International desk

GINA, GUYANA, January 6, 2017

International Private Voluntary medical teams and donor agencies will soon be able to access more information online.  Former Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton during a year-end review of the Ministry said the International Desk of the Ministry of Public Health seeks to make easier, the process of applying and seeking information before contributing to the local medical system.

“The International Desk in an effort to encourage additional foreign aid in 2017 will be creating and launching internet friendly Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), application and reporting forms and templates for medical missions on its website. We will also be intensifying work with current foreign aid providers,” Minister Norton explained.

The new internet friendly SOPsare expected to create a virtual space for applying for and reporting medical missions carried out by international teams in Guyana.

The International Desk at the Public Health Ministry is responsible for harnessing and facilitating private and non-governmental health related foreign aid in Guyana.

The value of foreign aid received through the International Desk in 2016 was in excess of US$1.3M. Resources donated included medical equipment, medicines and supplies and educational material and aids.

Additionally, foreign aid in 2016 saw health care providers such as doctors and nurses receiving accredited certificates and benefitting from graduate and post graduate training courses through recognised Universities in ABC countries (USA, Canada, and Great Britain).

Providers of such aid for 2016 were the global charities of Latter Day Saints Global Charities and the Starkey Hearing Foundation and diaspora-led initiatives such as Guyana Help the Kids Charity and Universities such as the University of Calgary in Canada.

Thirty-six (36) foreign medical missions which were facilitated through the International Desk visited Guyana 43 times in 2016. More than 10,000 Guyanese citizens countrywide including persons in hinterland, riverine communities and outlying areas benefitted from services provided by foreign medical teams.

Services include obstetrics, gynaecology, cardiovascular screening and follow-up care, family medicine, Corneal Transplants, Cataract screenings and Surgeries as well as treatment for various cancers.

Moreover, other services contributed to the health sector’s advancement. Medical equipment was supplied for the improvement -7195of Maternal and Child Health care in Guyana. Infant and Neonatal mortality rates were lowered through collaboration with the Guyana Help the Kids Charity which was able to provide over US$300,000 in medical equipment and supplies in 2016 for maternity wards and infant and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) at the GPHC and  regional hospitals.

The Ministry of Public Health now has a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit under the Guyana Programme to Advance Cardiac Care (GPACC). This is being done collaboratively with the University of Calgary.

Additionally, the Linden Hospital Complex has received an Asthma Spirometry Unit; through the help of Dr. Robert Levy, University of British Columbia to assist in delivery care to the growing number of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients in the mining town.. Dr. Levy also donated over US$3,000 in medical supplies and equipment.

In 2016, the Ministry was able to establish and cement relations with the Starkey Hearing Foundation global charity which committed to donating over 1,000 hearing aids, and after-care services to the Guyanese public free of charge.

 

By: Delicia Haynes