Moraikobai residents benefit from medical outreach

Residents of Moraikobai, the only Amerindian village in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), have on Sunday benefitted from a range of medical services through an outreach conducted by the 18th China Medical Team.
The medical outreach to the village was organised by CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited (CPGL), which holds a 25 per cent working interest in the Stabroek Block, located approximately 200 kilometres offshore Guyana.
Nine doctors, including specialists, travelled to the village, located approximately 96 miles from the confluence of the Mahaicony River, to render various services, including ultrasonography and overall check-ups. And residents turned out in large numbers to the outreach, to consult with the doctors and receive medication prescribed based on their circumstances.

The residents have lauded the initiative and requested that more outreaches be organised in the future. Shawn Smith, a logger who has been living in Moraikobai for over 18 years, has said it was the first time he had attended a medical outreach and was able to get a “fast response.”
He described the outreach as “good”, noting that, from logging all day, he would normally suffer from back pain, and, through the outreach, he was able to get medication to help relieve the pain.
Moraikobai’s Deputy Toshao Jeff Bonaparte, who visited the outreach, extended appreciation to CPGL on behalf of the Village Council and the residents for initiating the medical outreach.
Onica Sutherland, a resident of the village for 33 years, has said she felt “pleased and proud” that the outreach went all the way to Moraikobai, and requested that more specialised services be offered in the future.
During a simple ceremony, Captain of the Medical Team, Dr. Chu Xuehui, extended gratitude to the residents of the village for their warm welcome and hospitality, and gave an overview of the medical team’s work since arriving in Guyana in September 2022. Since arriving in Guyana, that medical team has carried out comprehensive medical work at both the Georgetown Public Hospital and Linden Hospital Complex in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). In the past two months, the team has received over 400 outpatients, completed nearly 100 operations, and carried out nine new medical technologies. They also provided medical training for local doctors at the Leonora Hospital in West Demerara in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
“At the invitation of CPGL, we are very glad to come to Moraikobai community to carry out the outreach programme and try as much as we can to help the people here,” Dr Chu Xuechi told the residents.