Get screened for diabetes from 1 of 400 facilities – Health Ministry urges Guyanese

In observance of Caribbean Wellness Day today, the Health Ministry is encouraging the general populace to get screened for diabetes, and utilise the services available at some 400 facilities countrywide.
Technical Officer for Diabetes at the Chronic Diseases Unit, Dr Nandishaw Ramsingh appeared on the Health Matters programme on Friday where she underscored that a simple blood test can assist with detection.
“We have at least 400 facilities nationwide. This includes health centres, health posts and hospitals. We are encouraging persons to visit their nearest health facility. One single screening by way of a blood test, we can at least be able to tell what your blood sugar levels are like,” she disclosed.
The Health Ministry is heavily focused on combating Non-Communicable Diseases, especially diabetes. There is a one-stop shop initiative where persons can access specialised services, diabetic care and check-ups. The idea is to meet people on the ground and develop solutions to bring their conditions under control. In collaboration with Mount Sinai, guidelines are also being developed.
Dr Ramsingh highlighted, “We want our Guyanese guidelines to be known and to be shown that we can be able to utilise this tool to screen persons, treat them and have diabetes under control.”
A strong family background of diabetes is one of the risk factors, prompting teenagers within this bracket to get tested. Other factors range from physical inactivity and nutrition.
Programme Director at Mount Sinai, Josue Alcantará said work is ongoing with the local health authorities to improve services at a national level so as to reduce the occurrence of waiting until complications arise to take action. This is specially the case for NCDs.
“We’re trying to tackle the issues with health workforce in making sure that we not only train amazing personnel here in healthcare workers but that we’re able to retain them and have this amazing workforce that is the basis of the system,” he divulged.
Caribbean Wellness Day has been a landmark activity for the Caribbean Community (Caricom) for the past 15 years. This followed the 2007 Decision by the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom, reflected in the Port-of-Spain Declaration “Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases”, that the second Saturday in September should be observed annually as Caribbean Wellness Day.
Over the years, Member States have extended their activities to complement health advocacy and promotion strategies in their national health programmes.
“Power Through Collective Action”, was agreed as the overarching theme for Caribbean Wellness Day from 2020-2024.
Caricom Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett has penned in her message, “The objectives of Caribbean Wellness Day 2023 are to advocate for policies that promote healthy behaviours in Caribbean people at the community, institutional, national and regional levels; actions that reduce barriers to healthy behaviours for individuals and households; and programmes and activities that promote physical activity, healthy eating, mental wellness and health-seeking behaviours within workplaces and schools.”
She added that nations must take steps to minimise the risk of NCDs, through individual and collective action. This will lessen the economic and emotional burdens on our families, communities and health systems.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the greater proportion of deaths was among people with comorbidities, especially those related to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), we saw clearly the impact of NCDs on our Region. The risk of these diseases is increased by modifiable behaviours, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets,” Dr Barnett pointed out. (G12)