Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 08, 2014 News
By Sharmain Grainger
Heart disease is an epidemic that is certainly not unique to Guyana as it can be found in just about every section of the world, and is particularly prevalent in developing countries. This assertion was vocalised Friday evening by Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Rajiv Jauhar, during an interview with this publication.
Dr Jauhar, who currently functions as Chief of Cardiology at Long Island Jewish Hospital, New York, United States, yesterday concluded a three-day visit here to perform cardiac screening and operations at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital.
He was accompanied by four other professionals from the large urban medical facility, including two nurses, a technologist and Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Perwaiz Meraj.
Doctors Jauhar and Meraj on Friday evening also facilitated an awareness session which was attended by a wide cross-section of the medical fraternity, including former Health Minister and Senior Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy; Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony and Programme Manager of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, Dr Shanti SIngh.
The awareness forum, which was held at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown, represented a collaborative effort between the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital and Philanthropist, Mr George Subraj.
Subraj was instrumental in soliciting the expertise of the medical professionals who travelled to Guyana to volunteer their services, mainly to needy persons.
According to Dr Jauhar, over the years he has seen, at Long Island Jewish Hospital, a huge growth in the ethnic population suffering from heart disease. This increased number of cases, he disclosed, were among individuals of Guyanese and South Asian descent.
“We have done a terrific job with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), Tuberculosis, Small Pox and other diseases, but we have not done such a god job with coronary heart disease,” Dr Jauhar admitted.
Moreover, he said that intensified efforts are currently being directed to address heart diseases, so much so that he and his team members were only too eager to travel to Guyana to not only perform operations in this regard, but more importantly, to raise awareness among members of the population.
“We need to start early so that people can start understanding what they can do to help reduce heart diseases,” Dr Jauhar asserted.
The team arrived on Thursday and by yesterday had seen more than 70 patients and completed a number of angioplasties – one even on a patient as old as 80 years. Angioplasty is a procedure used to open narrowed or blocked coronary (heart) arteries.
Aside from the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital, heart patients are able to benefit from specialised heart care services from entities including the Caribbean Heart Institute which has over the years been performing some intricate operations.
But according to Dr Jauhar, there might still be a great need for more to be done to adequately tackle the challenge of heart disease.
“There are several factors – one is resources; we need Cath Labs, we need cardiologists, and these are very important…We also need education where people are taught about diet, exercise and lifestyle modification,” noted Dr Jauhar.
He pointed out too that one of the major limitations in addressing heart disease is the availability factor, whereby persons in rural communities may not be able to readily access services which may only be accessible in the urban section of the country. The Interventional Cardiologist observed that while “Georgetown is a large city and there is some availability…all of the procedures are not available, because they are expensive, and so it would require a multi-disciplinary approach to fix the problem.”
Although the overseas team hinted at the possibility of returning in the near future to support local efforts to address heart disease, Dr Jauhar stated that “this is more a touchy-feely first visit to see if they need us…they may not even need us. So if we will come back, we will see…Mr Subraj will decide and it will depend (too) on whether Dr (Balwant) Singh wants us to come back.”
According to Subraj, who has been plugging substantial funding towards the travel and accommodation of medical experts to these shores, Dr Jauhar and his team “came gratuitously; they didn’t charge a penny.”
Subraj, a Guyanese by birth, has for more than two decades been helping to support various aspects of the society, especially as it relates to improving the delivery of health care. Among his most noticeable ventures has been the support directed towards kidney transplantation facilitated by Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Dr Rahul Jindal, of the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, Washington D. C.
According to Subraj, the recent cardiac team’s visit here is the materialisation of a project that was nearly two years in the making and “they came on their own time.”
Describing the visit here as “an amazing experience”, Dr Meraj said that “we have been very fortunate to be welcomed here with open arms.” But the most important feature of the visit, he noted, was the “smiles on the patients’ faces when they see someone who wants to listen and help them.”
Dr Meraj disclosed too that while discussions and efforts over the past few days were mainly focused on “helping as many people as we can and getting a feel of how things run here,” it is expected that discussions will soon start in relation to building capacity in terms of the number of professionals in the field of cardiac care. He is, however, convinced that the facilities that currently exist to offer such services here are comparable to what obtains overseas.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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