The construction of the Lusignan Diabetic Clinic on the East Coast of Demerara has been completed and is outfitted with equipment that will offer treatment and specialised services to diabetics, which will benefit residents on the East Coast.
The announcement was made by Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony during Friday’s COVID-19 update, a Department of Public Information (DPI) release stated yesterday.
The minister also informed that patients who wish to receive services from the clinic can register from the new week.
“What we’ll be doing as of next week is to do like a soft opening of the facilities, where persons who want to be managed at that centre can come and get registered … we’ll start getting patients to come in [and] get registered and we’ll start offering treatment.”
According to the release, the clinic will offer services that include eye and cardiovascular screening, diabetic wound care, x-rays, as well as laboratory, and rehabilitation services for persons suffering from peripheral neuropathy.
Peripheral neuropathy results from damage to the nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord (peripheral nerves) and often causes weakness, numbness and pain, usually in the hands and feet.
Anthony also noted, “All these services would be under one roof and next week we start a phased approach to getting patients in, getting them familiar with the services that we’re offering.” He said that the diabetic clinic will be staffed with specialists who have been trained to provide quality and comprehensive approaches to diabetic treatment.
“There will be a nutrition counsellor that will be assigned to the centre, for most diabetics, to screen them for complications of diabetes. We need to check people’s kidneys, we’ll need to check their eyes, we need to check their feet and these types of specialised services would also be available on the sites,” he added.
The new clinic is expected to be officially declared open by the end of January or early February, the release added.
