Guyana hopes to do its first kidney transplant locally within the next month, Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy says.
He made the revelation while speaking at the commissioning of the Intensive Care Unit of the New Amsterdam Public Hospital last Friday. “Guyana hopes to accomplish its first kidney transplant in June this year, a few weeks from now”, the minister said.
Stabroek News was unable to elicit further details from Dr. Ramsammy yesterday. If accomplished it would be another major stride in the health sector which recently saw open-heart surgery being done here.
During his address at New Amsterdam Dr. Ramsammy had stated that Guyana must continue to build its health care service and noted that many health care services were lacking locally and persons had to leave the country to access these services and as a result many became severely sick, disabled or unfortunately die.
He added that the government has come a far way because they did not set limits and while the ministry aims to do the limited services well, they also want to ensure that persons had less reason to leave Guyana for health care services. He also mentioned that to provide the desired health care services in Guyana it would cost the government $20B but only $12B has been allocated to the health sector while people pay about $3B to the private health sector amounting to $15B overall, leaving a gap of $5B.
Recently, a number of new services have been offered in the health sector including the undertaking of open-heart surgery for the first time at the Caribbean Heart Institute located at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana is also in the process of assisting with a kidney dialysis centre.
An increasing number of Guyanese have been going public recently with kidney failure stories and the high cost of dialysis.
Several recently had kidney transplant operations in India.
Recently, young wife and mother Reena Sultan who had been suffering from end-stage kidney disease said she has a new lease on life now that she has had a kidney transplant. The operation was done in India.
It was paid for through the generosity of various organizations and individuals.
In an interview with Stabroek News she had said the fight had not been easy but gratitude was the sentiment uppermost in her mind. Getting her life back on track and taking care of her husband and son was her goal now, although she could not tax herself too much.
Sultan and her husband Fazil returned to Guyana on April 12 after almost four months spent in India, where she underwent the kidney transplant at the Colombia Asia Hospital in Bangalore India.
The couple said that their initial budget of US$15,000 was exceeded, since the actual cost of the surgery and spending four months in India came to about US$26,000, with rent taking up a lot of their finances. Renting one small apartment cost them US$1,000 per month.
In April this year the Three Rivers Kids Foundation of Canada took 13 children for operations in India. One of them is to have a kidney transplanted.
The government has sought through alliances with the private sector to ensure that operations such as the open-heart surgery are affordable and cheaper than having to travel to places like India.
