Thousands access free healthcare at Suddie Hospital in 2017

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, July 10, 2018

The Suddie Regional Hospital in Region 2 has seen an increase in the number of patients following the expansion and improvement of services it offers, thereby reducing the number of travels to other hospitals.

Regional Health Officer (ag), Dr. Afarah Khan recently presented statistics for 2017, highlighting the number of patients either referred or independently seeking medical attention at the hospital: “Number of in-patients for 2017 is 4,013; number of out-patients 21,128; Accident and Emergency 7,515; number of persons seen in special clinics is 7,269; and referrals to Georgetown increased a little with 277 in 2017 as against 272 in 2016.”

The 106-bed facility caters to a wide range of services including surgeries, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics and orthopaedics, along with special clinics daily. Other services include x-ray, laboratory services, mental health, eye care and rehabilitation services.

With these services available there is a lower possibility of referrals to the West Demerara Regional Hospital and Georgetown Public Hospital. However, emergency cases are still referred out of the region for immediate, life-saving interventions.

Meanwhile, the Suddie Regional Hospital is well equipped to deal with referrals from the Oscar Joseph District Hospital in the region. “The number of referrals to Suddie hospital from Oscar Joseph at Charity is 972. Now the increase in referral during this 2017 period was because Oscar Joseph District hospital was under rehabilitation so the wards were out, so most of the critical patients we had to transfer to Suddie.” Dr. Khan added.

It is projected that new and even improved services will be added to the already available complement to further reduce referrals and encourage more people in the region to access the public health services. These include an ultrasound machine to enhance OB/GYN services.

Also, ventilating machines are being procured for the Accident and Emergency Unit and the Intensive Care Unit at Suddie.

In the near future, Suddie Regional Hospital will boast a new facility with modern amenities as part of an agreement inked between the government and the Indian Export/Import (EXIM) bank, for a loan of GYD $3.7Billion.

This will go towards upgrading and improving primary healthcare in Guyana with three hospitals targeted for modernisation. These facilities are the Suddie Regional Hospital, West Demerara Regional Hospital and the Bartica Regional Hospital.

By: Delicia Haynes.

Images: Anil Seelall and Tejpaul Bridgemohan.

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