Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Dr. Gregory Harris

Oct 10, 2021 News

We are taking healthcare to the people and while it is not where I want it to be, I am proud of the strides made thus far to transform health care in Region 10 and I will continue to give it my all until we reach the pinnacle of service.

By Vanessa Braithwaite

Kaieteur News – Many who aspire to enter the medical profession, envision wearing white coats and scrubs and attending to patients in their various specialties. For Dr. Gregory Harris however, his vision was different; he wanted to create change in the public health system in the Region 10. To achieve this goal, Dr. Harris worked tirelessly over the years to qualify for the position of Regional Health Officer, which placed him as the chief administrator of health institutions across the region, including the regional health department, health centres and health post.

Region 10’s RHO, Dr. Gregory Harris

Reflecting on his journey to realising his vision, Dr. Harris, who hails from the village of Buxton of the East Coast of Demerara, came to Linden to serve as a General Medical Practitioner in 2013, when he returned from a seven-year stint of studying medicine in Cuba. “Serving at the Linden Hospital Complex for six years was an honour, I used those years to not only serve medically but administratively. I always had a knack for administrative management and creating a better working system for all the medical practitioners to work under, to make their service more effective and this would trickle down to the beneficiaries who are the residents of the region who come to these institutions to receive quality health care. I saw that this was lacking and I used my resources at that time to make the necessary representation, create change and platforms for inclusivity and efficiency,” he explained.
Dr. Harris used his free time to organise health fairs in the Upper-Berbice District and other activities to close the gap in the health care that is afforded residents in Linden and those residing in outlying communities in Region 10 such as Ituni, Kwakwani and villages in the Upper-Berbice River.
In 2015, he was appointed Chairman of the Regional Health Committee and used this platform to make representation in an effort to bring to the attention of the policy makers of the region, the challenges healthcare workers were experiencing, the loop holes in the Regional Health System, as it relates particularly to working conditions, insufficient drugs and the lack of human resource at the health institutions.
“While serving as Chairman of the Regional Health Committee, I tried my best to make representation for my fellow healthcare workers, for conditions to improve at the various health institutions across the region, especially in the outlying areas where there were no health post or health posts were not functioning as they should. I was very active, especially when it came around to budget time to ensure what was requested during consultation, was included in the budget.
This drive for betterment in the Regional Health System resulted in Dr. Harris applying for a Chevening scholarship in 2018 to study Health Care Policy Management in the United Kingdom. “When I was asked why I wanted to study Health Care Policy Management, I expressed the dire need to bring health services within the region up to par and that I needed the requisite knowledge to play an integral role in providing a comprehensive, integrated, efficient, cost-effective and sustainable regional health care system. I really wanted to respond to the changing public health needs of the people of Region 10.
Approximately six months after his return in 2020, Dr. Harris was appointed Regional Health Officer for Region 10. This appointment however came amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Dr. Harris had to divide his efforts into effectively tackling the pandemic by initiating preventative measures, as well as to jump start his task of transforming the health care system to ensure equitable distribution of resources and services, by focusing on the people’s needs.
Relative to handling the pandemic, the Health Department quickly got in gear to collaborate with the Regional Democratic Council and the Regional COVID-19 task force, to keep the spread of the virus down in the region, while ensuring the effective management of the COVID-19 Isolation Unit in Linden. Lindeners were employed temporarily in the various capacities to boost the COVID-19 surveillance systems that were enacted. These included healthcare workers who remained at check points sanitising vehicles, checking temperatures and ensuring COVID-19 measures were being practiced by all in-bound passengers.
Over the last year since his appointment, strides were made to improve health care delivery at the health centres across the region, to make specialised services more accessible to residents in the various communities. “The goal was to close the gap between the services offered at the Linden Hospital Complex and those offered at the health centres across the region. Now specialised services such as cholesterol and biochemistry testing can be accessed and we are working assiduously to transform these clinics into polyclinics so other laboratory testing can be accessed.”
More specialised clinics are also now available at these community health institutions and regular medical outreaches are held in outlying communities as well as Linden. “We are taking healthcare to the people and while it is not where I want it to be, I am proud of the strides made thus far to transform health care in Region 10 and I will continue to give it my all until we reach the pinnacle of service,” the RHO said.