Govt assisting with radiation treatment for cancer patients – Health Minister

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Friday disclosed that Government has been assisting cancer patients who require radiation treatment – something not offered at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The Minister made the disclosure during his daily COVID-19 update.
Anthony explained that once the Ministry refers a patient to the Guyana Cancer Institute for radiation treatment, the Ministry would generally assist the patient, financially, with the radiotherapy. However, there is a procedure that must be followed.
“There are persons who need radiotherapy while we ourselves do not have the machines to do the radiotherapy. We would normally refer people to the Cancer Institute which is located in the GPHC compound, that’s a private institution, but once we refer people there, generally, we assist in paying for the cost of treatment at that facility. So, there is a procedure of how to get the assistance, but we would generally pay for our patients to get radiotherapy there,” the Health Minister said.
In addition, he noted that medication assistance is also offered to cancer patients. He mentioned that one of the ways the Ministry helps cancer patients is through the provision of medication. He revealed that this has mostly benefited persons who would have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“If they’re attending the clinic at the Georgetown Public Hospital, the medication that they need we can source that medication. Generally, the medications are quite costly, but we are able to buy it for our patients. So, I know a lot of breast cancer patients have benefited from the medication that we offer at the hospital,” he said.
Only recently, the Government through the Health Ministry on handed out a whopping $47.4 million to dialysis patients which will assist them with their treatment.
This mechanism comes under the newly-introduced $600,000 per patient assistance that will be allotted yearly. Seventy-nine persons would have collected their cheques during an event at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
In this year’s budget, the Government allocated $180 million to support some 300 dialysis patients who require a series of dialysis treatments. (G2)