Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 31, 2012 News
….young doctor named Champion Worker
A young doctor walked away as the Champion Health Worker on Saturday evening at the
ninth Berbice Regional Health Authority (BRHA) Awards Ceremony. Dr Nerissa Ramnarine, Government Health Officer, stationed at both the Port Mourant Hospital and Health Centre won a trip for two to Kaieteur Falls. Several other outstanding health workers, including retirees and current practitioners in the system were awarded for their efforts in the health arena in the region.
Dr Vishwa Mahadeo, Chief Executive Officer of the BRHA, lauded health practitioners in the region for making Region Six the “most progressive region where health is concerned– progressive in delivering care in a variety of ways no other region does in Guyana and making sure that the citizens we serve are aware of what we do and how we do things and holding us accountable,” he said.
Mahadeo noted that the Home-based Care programme was highly successful. A total of 866 Berbicians received care at home from the medexes and doctors. The Foot-care programme and Dental Programme and Blood Recruitment Programme are “second only to the National Blood Transfusion Programme”, and the HIV/ Counseling and Testing Programme. “These programmes continue to shine,” he said.
He revealed that the National Psychiatric Hospital is now staffed with an additional mental health staff member in the person of Dr Ravi Thakurdeen, “a young Guyanese who returned from Cuba” and was “joined by Medex Hameeda Alli”.
He said that $10M was spent to upgrade the grounds around the mental facility. The Acute Care Ward which is under construction at a cost of $120M should be completed by the second quarter of this year. The new canteen and craft shop has “some of the best leather craft that comes from the hospital,” he added.
The patients’ records at the institution have now been computerized, he revealed. And “the data are sent regularly to the Ministry of Health and to doctors in Georgetown”.
“The Psychiatric Patient Care Assistant Programme was completed and 21 young men and women joined the staff at the facility. All our primary health care staff received training in 2011”, he related.
Mahadeo noted that four new health centers were built last year– at Whim, Skeldon, Ma Retraite and Angoy’s Avenue. “At every health centre, you can have your dressing done,” he noted.
Over at the New Amsterdam Hospital, there were more than 93,000 visits at the out-patient department and clinic, and 1,704 surgeries were done. He added that 1,494 babies were delivered, 16 were stillbirths. For the same period there were 16 neonatal deaths and one maternal death.
“We’re hoping that this year we would be able to maintain the status we had from 2006 to 2009 when we had zero maternal deaths”, he stated. The CEO stated that 14,278 x-rays were done; 75,456 lab tests were done and 76,442 prescriptions were filled at the hospital.
The Foot- care centre, which is located in the New Amsterdam Hospital compound, started to function in July 2011 and attended to 173 patients who had diabetic foot issues. The BRHA has managed to achieve 14 per cent of testing in Berbice during National Testing Week last year. “We managed to do 33 per cent in the total number of tests done in the country,” he noted.
Twenty- six blood drives wer
e conducted and the BRHA surpassed its target thrown out by then Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy and collected some 1,067 units of blood with over 85 per cent being voluntary donors.
Four hundred and eighty- seven new donors were recruited. Mahadeo noted that the Berbice hospitals continue to deliver secondary and tertiary care. Skeldon Hospital, he noted, over a period of time, has increased the number of patients and in- patients.
The mobile dental bus has been working on the Corentyne and would be visiting schools as well this year.
The Berbice health sector received 512 complaints, most about the waiting time at one hospital. He noted that ”every single one of the complaints was investigated.”
Dr Mahadeo stated that in 2012 the region plans to extend the Diabetic Foot- care programme on the Corentyne and “we will improve the extended home- based care programme and pay special attention to the suicide problem in Region Six”.
He said that the BRHA has topped the country in health care delivery and he thanked his staff and medical personnel for their dedication. “The successes are the successes of our hardworking staff, who go beyond the call of duty to serve the people of Berbice.
“We have our share of bad eggs, but they are very, very few and we need you to help us point them out, so we can ask them to either improve their performance or leave”, he stated.
Several organizations were rewarded and recognized during the ceremony, among them Little Rock Television Station, Republic Bank, United Bricklayers, International Pharmaceutical Agency, Number 64-66 Mandir for the blood drives they organize, and Terry Davis, Senior Health Visitor. They all received certificates.
The Best Health Centre award went to Port Mourant Health Centre “which collected the most blood and which has one of the strongest Management Committees”. They received $50,000 and certificates. Bush Lot and Number 64 came in second and third respectively. Several Best Health Workers were honoured including Dr Nerissa Roopnarine, Michael de Souza, Cheryl Henry, Earl Hinds, Earl Jacobs, Alicia Jack, and organizations such as Food For The Poor (FFP), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Dr Leslie Ramsammy.
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