Doctors making up the opposition coalition APNU+AFC yesterday outlined plans to address a range of problems plaguing the health sector, including the continued accumulation of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of expired drugs, lack of accountability at facilities like the Georgetown Public Hospital and centralised management of the sector.
Dr George Norton, a former APNU parliamentarian and ophthalmologist at the Georgetown Public Hospital told a coalition news conference that for last year alone the Ministry destroyed $280 million worth of expired drugs.
“That is something that we would certainly want to put an end to and put measures in place to prevent it,” Norton said.
He noted that since 2005 the government has been practically sole sourcing medical supplies and medication for the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Hospital. “That is something that we certainly will put an end to when we get into power. An APNU+AFC government will not operate by cabinet order but rather by a tender board procedure to try and give all the drug companies a level playing field because we have known of cases were the government was purchasing medication from the particular company at very high prices that they could have gotten from another company at lower cost,” he said.
Dr Surendra Persaud, a physician who is also a coalition supporter, emphasised the need for accountability within the sector.
“The government gives a blank check to the GPHC. So, the first thing we need to do is to address it like is a corporation… it must be held accountable, it must be held responsible and the people who are working there need to be accountable to the people,” he said, before noting that there are no projections or a proper budgeting system in place at the hospital that could help prevent situations such as two mothers having to share one bed and drug shortages. Guyana has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the Americas and Persaud noted that maternal mortality ought not to occurring. “We investigate complications in order to learn from them and better ourselves,” he said, before adding that there must not be a death that goes unaddressed.
Persaud said the coalition intends to ensure that such cases are investigated so that similar problems in future can be prevented.
He also said one of the greatest challenges in Guyana is that “we are trying to run healthcare from Georgetown.” The Regional Health Authorities’ Act, he added, was aimed to decentralise health care but it has not been fully functional. He said the law needs to be looked at and required regional health authorities established so that there can be proper accountability.
Lagging behind
The doctors outlined a number of areas of priority for the coalition and according to Dr Karen Cummings maternal deaths will be on the front burner as will mental health and suicide. Cummings, a former APNU MP, said the coalition wants to partner with civil society to tackle health problems, such as obesity and non-communicable diseases.
She said that the promotion of health literacy, the improvement of health and the quality of life is also important to the coalition. She also noted that a coalition government would seek to adopt a multi-sectorial approach towards fixing the sector since the Ministry of Health would be unable to do so single-handedly. “We have to work as a team in different sectors,” she said.
Cummings said the coalition is dissatisfied with the quality of health care provided to citizens and the inefficiency of the country’s hospitals. She said the focus ought to be on primary health care, which would tackle prevention, while noting that the present administration has bypassed this and is looking more at specialty care.
She said Guyana has been lagging behind when it comes to health and like Persaud she noted that the deaths of women during childbirth is unacceptable, particularly since nobody is held accountable for “this carelessness and callousness.”
Norton said one has to approach the delivery of health care with a long term perspective, which would place emphasis on training. He said that “work ethic” is a problem for the whole of Guyana and that is closely related to job satisfaction. He said attention has to be paid to the conditions under which nurses are working, their salary structure and benefits.
“If we don’t invest in our human resources, we are not gonna get the desired results and that is where the coalition will certainly have to exercise most of their energies,” he added.
“I would want to see the Georgetown Public Hospital being manned by Guyanese doctors; Guyanese doctors who would have undergone post-graduate training to fill up the job requirements of the Georgetown Hospital as well as the nurses and technicians,” he said before
They also lamented the lack of plans to receive those specialists who return home after years of study abroad. Reporters were told that most of them do not have the equipment they need to perform the duties and this has resulted in some migrating.
Region One
Over the years, there have been significant health concerns in Region One, which has seen outbreaks of water-borne diseases, such as gastroenteritis.
Speaking on this, Norton pointed out that in the 10th Parliament a motion calling for an investigation into deaths and sicknesses in Region One, particularly Port Kaituma, was passed. He said the illnesses were described as seasonable but yet there was no long plan in place to deal with outbreaks when they occurred. He said the coalition will hope to put all structures and measures in place to deal with the problem.
He said that the health infrastructure, as well available human resources and adequate supply of drugs also have to be looked at. He said there are situations occurring in the region where a single dose of malaria medication has to be shared between persons because enough is not available.
Cummings said previous studies have been done by Guyana Water Incorporated and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and it has been found that toilets are situated over rivers and waterways. “There must be systems in place to improve the quality of life of these people so they wouldn’t have their pit latrines over the river,” she said.
