Dear Editor,
This is not a letter of complaint seeking to attack the Government that has taken over a country in which its critical social services have been found to be deficient in their daily operations. Sometimes I am left to ponder whether this nation can fully comprehend the daunting task that this Government has in regard to the proper restoration of many of these departments for a better delivery of service. Can we really appreciate the challenges?
Before I air my particular concern, congratulations are manifold to Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence and all the technical staff that are at the moment carrying out the countrywide anti-filaria campaign. This is a national initiative of an innovative type that matches the well- known stigma of this condition – taking medicine to the people. There are so many persons who would have contracted this disease because of mosquito bites, without being aware, because of its long gestation period.
I daresay that this is a strategy that will be far reaching in its aim to prevent the proliferation of the infection, as well as bring relief to those who may have already been infected.
For all the billions that the past administration of the People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) budgeted and crowed about spending for the nation’s health, aspects of efficient delivery of critical health care services are still a grave issue. Despite the many interventions that this current administration has wrought, the deterioration of the national health services was so bad.
Six doctors each recently acquired a Master’s Degree in Emergency Medicine through a programme provided by the Vanderbilt University and the Medical Centre of the United States of America (USA). The doctors are currently stationed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) Accident and Emergency (A&E) Unit, boosting the level of services being offered at the institution. Despite over 150 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) having been trained to assist in the process of saving lives, with medical response with three ambulance Emergency Medical Services. The EMTs are responsible for stabilising patients and ensuring their safety until they arrive at the A&E unit.
These are all worthy of commendation, and are a clear intention by this administration to provide quality health care to its citizens.
However, there are still cases of persons, senior citizens, who complain about being made to wait very long hours at the Accident and Emergency Unit before receiving attention.
Editor, it is my understanding that the diagnostic centres: the Diamond and Leonora Diagnostic Centres, which have been staffed with specialists, were conceived and came into being primarily to reduce the volume of persons on the central health services in Georgetown. I stand to be corrected when I say that persons from the specific locales of those diagnostic centres could access the A&E only by written referral. But that seems not to have worked well, since, among the significant numbers of persons visiting the central system, large numbers reside in the very regions where there are diagnostic centres.
Strategically, there has been an out-patient department in operation for some time, re-established to tend to cases that do not warrant the A&E’s attention. This is very good. However, if it were a 24-hour service, it would also cater for those late-hour workers who may need to visit for medical attention for, say, a non-life threatening medical issue. But if it is not of that duration, then obviously that person would inevitably defer to the A&E. This adds to the increase in persons at the A&E.
Firstly, why are persons seeking medical attention not making the diagnostic centres their first port of call? Is it through a lack of confidence in the services offered? Surely, I am of the opinion that those senior health posts can provide competent services to those who seek medical help.
Six doctors recently acquired Master’s Degrees in Emergency Medicine through a programme provided by the Vanderbilt University and the Medical Centre of the United States of America (USA). The doctors are currently stationed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) Accident and Emergency (A&E) unit, boosting the level of services being offered at the institution.
Secondly, the A&E is the nerve centre of the GPHC, and is geared to service emergencies. By the latter, emergencies from a layman’s understanding should mean any physical condition that may be immediately life threatening.
From experience, there have been many mature age persons, especially senior citizens, with known physical ailments, together with babies and young children, who do visit the A&E and are made to wait for extreme lengths of time. In the end, many were admitted because of the genuineness of their complaint.
My point here is this: waiting too long with a particular chronic condition as many senior citizens do have can only result in further deterioration to their already fragile health.
Therefore, the aged and the young ought to be given priority at any medical institution, most of all at the GPHC A&E, particularly when seen in a poorly state.
In this month of the elderly, it is my fervent hope that the Ministers of Public Health, Ms Volda Lawrence and Dr. Karen Cummings, and the Medical Director and Head of the A&E, Dr. Zulifikar Bux, will give serious thought to my humble suggestions.
Regards,
Shauna Williams
