Chinese Medical Brigade to help improve services at regional health facilities – Anthony

In a bid to boost the capabilities of health practitioners, who will soon be providing medical services to citizens at the regional hospitals under construction, Government plans to capitalise on the work on the Chinese Medical Brigade.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has indicated that the administration is strengthening its relationship with the Chinese Medical Brigade to cater for frequent medical missions in Guyana.
The current agreement between the two nations only allows one team of medical professionals from China to visit Guyana annually and engage in knowledge exchange with local doctors, nurses and specialists in areas such as medical education, medicine research, public health and preventive medicine.
Anthony explained that Government is looking to ramp up the number of persons benefitting from the programme by spiking a new agreement, which will see smaller teams from the brigade visiting the country throughout the year to conduct training instead of one large team.
The minister, who was at the time bidding farewell to the 19th Medical Brigade, highlighted that the move is part of efforts to ensure that medical care accessed at regional hospitals are on par with the level of care being offered at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
“One of the things that we look forward to, that when you’re training people, and the training that you’ve provided, and maybe for the next batch of doctors that are coming in, is that we will also want to pull from the regions to make sure that they’re exposed to some of these training. Because very soon they’ll have the environment in which to practice. So, I think this is a very good collaboration,”
“But we know you have other responsibilities. So, we wouldn’t want to make sure that you spend very long time away from your families and so forth. But one of the things that we might be able to consider is to have maybe short-term consultants coming in for shorter periods to do specific types of interventions. And maybe that might address some of the challenges that we have. I think with your collaboration, the work that you have done, the quality of medicine that you practice have allowed us to really lift the bar in Guyana. And I think when I say that, I speak for all the professionals at the Georgetown Hospital,” Dr Anthony shared.
Anthony also indicated that Government plans to collaborate with the Chinese Medical Brigade in other areas of interest such as the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.
“We’ve also been looking at other possibilities, because apart from the medical, like hospitals and treating patients and so forth, there are a number of other things that we can do that is related to medicine. So, one of the things that we’ve been looking at, can we be able to now do some form of manufacturing? Can we be able to manufacture test kits, for example? Can we manufacture some devices? Can we manufacture pharmaceuticals? Can we manufacture vaccines? Because we saw that outside, during COVID, the challenges that we’ve had. And even now, with monkeypox in the DRC, and the countries surrounding that, one of their biggest challenges is access to vaccines. They don’t have enough. They don’t have the resources to buy, because it’s quite expensive,” he added.
The first batch of Chinese medical brigade came to Guyana in 1993 according to the Protocol on Medical Cooperation, which was signed between the two countries on May 26, 1993.
Through the agreement inked between the two nations, Guyana has been able to significantly improve the access to quality healthcare.
Anthony spoke highly of the important role played by the Chinese Medical Brigade, noting that the agency has always fulfilled its mission and aid in foreign aid medical work, pass on new technologies, new ideas to Guyana counterparts, and truly build a medical team that cannot be taken away. (G1)