Over the weekend, a team of doctors and support staff completed 28 surgeries at the Lethem Hospital, the Government Information Agency said yesterday.
The new hospital had come under scrutiny over concerns that not even basic surgeries were being done there.
GINA said the surgeries encompassed tubal ligation, excision of accessory breast (a condition that develops after pregnancy), cholecystectomy (removal of gall bladder), hernias (inguinal and incisional), hydrocoelectomy, excision of Bartholin’s cyst, excision of thyroglossal sinus, removal of plates and screw and wiring of dislocated thumb and excision of exostosis (excess bone deposits).
Among the team’s members, GINA said, were Dr Sheik Amir (general surgeon), Dr Ravi Motilall (registrar in surgery), Dr David Samaroo (orthopaedic surgeon), Dr Genalin Ang, Optometrist and support staff such as nurse anaesthetists and theatre nurses.
Teams are deployed periodically to the hospitals at the expense of the Ministry of Health, it said.
Coordinator of the indigenous people communities, Nurse Patricia Singh who led the team into Lethem said that the outreach was successful and residents of the area welcomed the intervention.
Dr. Amir said that he was pleased to be part of the team and that the beneficiaries of the surgeries can now live a better and healthier life.
According to GINA, he said that the team welcomes other medical professionals who are willing to volunteer their services for other communities earmarked for medical attention.
Orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Samaroo said that the team also shared their knowledge with medical professionals at the Lethem hospital to creatively address the level and scope of health services offered there.
Residents also had the opportunity to be screened for eye conditions by Dr. Genalin Ang a Filipino eye specialist in Guyana. Other doctors who are part of the roving teams are: Dr Galton Roberts (obstetrician), Dr Neville Gobin (obstetrician), Dr Shoba Gobin (anesthesiologist), Dr Rohan Jabour (paediatrician), Dr Surendra Persaud (general surgeon), Dr Fawcett Jeffrey (orthopaedic surgeon), Dr G Campbell (internal medicine), Dr Asha Purohit (obstetrician), Dr S. Kumar (internal medicine) and Dr Narine Singh (registrar in obstetrics).
