Newly appointed Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton says the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) will be upgraded.
He said that the new A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government will ensure key services such as a 24-hour operating theatre are put in place shortly.
“The West Dem Hospital should be of a quality not too different from the Georgetown Hospital, however no doubt more resources need to be available to this hospital,” Norton said during a visit to the West Demerara Regional Hospital yesterday, according to GINA.
The minister said that, “the staff know exactly what they want, understand their limitations, conscious of their challenges and give the impressions that they want to overcome those challenges.”
GINA said that Norton also interacted with the staff and a number of concerns were raised, including the shortage of drugs and the unavailability of key equipment.
The Minister said, “Like so many other areas that affect the health sector in general, like the on and off availability of drugs, medical equipment or materials, it is plaguing this hospital, the issue of catheters, or proper sutures and some essential medications. It’s happening all around. I get that while the authorities (the staff) are conscious of this, they are always willing to do the necessary things to correct the situation.”
As it relates to the neonatal unit, while there is adequate equipment, there is a shortage of staff, GINA said. “That unit is not functioning and many of times premature babies have to be transferred to Georgetown, we have a shortage of fetal monitors and so on, and those are things we need to put in place as early as possible,” Norton stated.
Meanwhile, a visit was also made to the Versailles Health Centre. This facility was constructed in 2010 on a wide expanse of land, and according to the Minister, it is still cramped for space. This issue will be rectified shortly, he said.
