Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony yesterday commissioned digital X-ray systems at the New Amsterdam, Port Mourant and Mibicuri hospitals in Region Six.
During his remarks, at the Port Mourant Hospital, Anthony disclosed that close to $60M had been spent on the overall development of the unit.
“The region in preparation for this X-ray unit spent approximately $16M in fixing the electricity in making sure that the facility would be of the standards so that we can install the instrument. Then from the Ministry side, we spent $44M to buy the equipment, the power distribution unit and to also put in the power pack to make that if there’s any fluctuation, that it would not affect the unit”, he stated.
Anthony said that that with digital imaging, radiation is minimal, and the X-ray image can be seen from different perspectives.
Meanwhile, Region Six Chairman, David Armogan noted that despite the upgrading of equipment and health facilities across the region, there is still room for improvement in service delivery.
With this, he added that within the regional budget, not only was it designed to train medical staff, but provision was made to provide better health care to the poor and needy.
At the New Amsterdam Hospital, the ministry said that a total of $57m was spent on purchases of the machines and the construction of the X-ray room, residents.
Anthony noted that patients will soon have an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system.
“In another two weeks, you will see that we are putting out a call for a company to come into Guyana and offer us a solution for how we should computerize our patients’ records, every patient that comes to the public health system will have a unique identifier and despite wherever they go they will have record in the system. So if you are a patient at New Amsterdam Hospital and decide to go to Georgetown Hospital they will be able to pull up your records and see everything about you medically that is in your records and this is going to help us to be more efficient at how we are managing (our) patients”, Anthony emphasised.
The new digital X-ray system at the Mibicuri Hospital carries a value of $44M, with an additional $36M being spent on civil works for the preparation of the site, the ministry said.
During his brief remarks, Anthony said that the hospital has seen substantial changes over the last few years.
“Over the last three years, all of you who have been working here have seen substantial changes and what we have done at the hospital. We would have expanded the area for the doctor’s office where they will see patients and those are substantial risk factors, we have added a waiting area essentially during the time of COVID because we didn’t want people to be close to each other and we felt that the waiting area outside was appropriate, we also extended the wards of the hospital, he reminded.
It was announced by Anthony that more infrastructural projects are expected in the coming years.
