Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony announced on Thursday that the government this year will launch a special eye care programme for children and the elderly.
He told the 75th sitting of the National Assembly that promoting eye care for children is crucial for their overall well-being, educational success, and future prospects.
“For children, we hope to detect eye conditions, such as amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (crossed eyes), and refractive errors (nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism)”.
The health minister noted that prompt intervention can prevent long-term vision impairment, which may adversely affect children’s academic performance and life opportunities.
He encouraged parents to take this opportunity to ensure their child’s vision is checked.
“I also want to encourage the elderly to take advantage of this programme. In addition to the eye checkups, those who need spectacles will be given a voucher that will help them with the purchase”, the Health Minister said.
He noted that for elderly patients, if his ministry detects cataracts, it will be able to operate and restore their vision.
Dr. Anthony said that women’s health is of the utmost importance and cancer is a major concern.
He recapped that breast cancer and cervical cancer are the most prevalent types of cancer among women in Guyana.
“While raising awareness is crucial, we need to take further steps to prevent, detect and treat these diseases”.
He noted that the PPP/C government has set a goal to meet the WHO target by 2030 with regard to cervical cancer.
The goal includes the following targets: 90% of girls should receive the full Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine by the time they reach 15 years of age.
The Minister suggested that 70% of women should undergo high-performance screening tests by the time they reach 35 and again at 45 years of age.
He added that 90% of individuals who are diagnosed with cervical disease should receive appropriate treatment.
“For the first goal, we target 41,539 girls aged between 9 and 15 years, we will extend the programme to older girls and women; we will also be offering two doses of the vaccine to 62,597 women between the ages of 16 and 25 years and three doses to 94,666 women in the age group of 26 to 45 years”.
“We have set a goal to meet the second WHO target, which is to provide 70% of women aged between 30 and 45 with high-performance tests. To achieve this, we have allocated resources in our budget to ensure that 52,921 women can access VIA, PAP smears, and HPV tests”.
Dr Anthony disclosed that if a woman is diagnosed with cancer during screening, the ministry will provide a range of treatment options depending on the stage.
He informed the house that treatment options can range from cryotherapy to surgery, brachytherapy, or a combination of options.
According to the minister, the combination of measures such as vaccination, testing and treatment will certainly reduce the cases of cervical cancer in Guyana.
He stated that the 2024 budget will provide access to mammograms for breast cancer prevention, family planning assistance for 16,000 women, and care packages for 3,000 pregnant women in the hospitals.
“The women of Guyana are in safe hands”, he said.
