-as concerns continue over gastro-like illness
Eight Cuba-trained Guyanese doctors will be sent to the northwest in the coming days with a team from the Ministry of Health (MoH) as reports continue of a gastro-like illness that has claimed several lives but which the authorities since June have been unable to clearly identify.
However, Minister in the Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran said there had not been any new cases of persons suffering from the ailment and the ministry is currently monitoring the situation.
Ramsaran dispelled reports of the death of a 20-year-old male resident of Matthews Ridge, located in the Matarkai sub-region, of the illness, noting that a medical team, which included Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud, only returned from the area on Friday.
The minister told Stabroek News that the MoH is examining ways to upgrade the medical capacity of Community Health Workers (CHW) in the region. The Minister said that health officers are taking samples from residents in the area on a frequent basis to be on top of the situation.
Ramsaran said that it was discovered, following tests conducted on persons who succumbed to the illness that most of the deaths were related to dehydration. He said this is one of the major reasons why the Health Ministry is working on upgrading the standard of the services offered by CHWs in the area.
The Health Minister also stated that a team from the MoH, including eight Cuban trained medical doctors who recently returned from studies, will be dispatched to the North West in the coming days to assist medical staff stationed there. The team will be accompanied by several Cuban doctors who will be on hand to provide medical support.
When contacted yesterday, Ramsaran said that he had just completed discussions on the illness with Toshao James of the village of Kariaco, located in the Moruca sub-region. Stabroek News had reported two weeks ago on the deaths of three persons from Kariaco, who succumbed to vomiting and diarrhoea, symptoms associated with the ailment.
The three persons were identified as Compton Toney, John Charles, both middle-aged men, as well as a toddler. Staff of the health department, including medex Lalita Rebeiro, who is stationed at Moruca, subsequently went into the Kariaco area to distribute medicine.
A resident of Citrus Grove, Port Kaituma, told Stabroek News yesterday there has been a reduction in the number of persons seeking treatment at the Port Kaituma Hospital, noting that residents in the area have been taking precautionary measures in dealing with the ailment.
The illness has been affecting residents in the Region One area since June, particularly in the Moruca sub-region.
This prompted the MoH to immediately dispatch teams from the Regional Health Services (RHS) of the Ministry to Region One to ascertain the extent and cause of the illness.
Following the earlier deaths of Moruca residents Calvin Charlie, 32, his 63-year-old mother, Helena Charlie, pensioner Albert De La Cruz and a toddler, Troydon Thornhill, residents in the area had expressed concern about the safety of their health. Calvin Charlie’s death, according to his death certificate, which was seen by this newspaper, was as a result of dehydration, even though he had been hospitalized for four days and given IV drips. His mother’s cause of death was listed as a result of diarrhoea and vomiting.
The MoH had disputed the cause of the deaths of De La Cruz and Thornhill noting that the latter had a kidney problem which led to his death and stated that De La Cruz died after suffering heart failure. There had also been several deaths at Port Kaituma, as well as cases of persons seeking treatment for the ailment at the Mabaruma District Hospital.
RHS teams which have since been dispatched to Region One had initially concentrated their efforts in the Moruca sub-region where the cases were more prevalent. The teams then fanned out to other areas in the region including Koriabo, in the Mabaruma sub-region, where there reports of persons suffering from the ailment. RHS Director Dr Narine Singh, told Stabroek News several weeks ago that the illness was as a result of persons in the area using water from nearby rivers and creeks.
He said at the time that the root of the problem related to persons in outlying areas being reluctant to seek medical attention at hospitals in the area in a timely manner.
