GPHC to tackle ECHO test backlog with support from US, Canadian specialists

…to clear waiting-list by October

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is partnering with experts from the United States (US)-based Northwell Health and a medical institution from Calgary in Canada to eliminate the current backlog for echocardiograms. Commonly called ‘ECHO test’, an echocardiogram is an ultra

sound test of the heart to provide an important diagnostic service. This type of heart scan uses sound waves to create moving pictures of the heart in order to assess its structure, valves and muscle function. Presently, there is a massive backlog of patients who are awaiting ECHO tests at GPHC – something which the hospital’s Paediatrics Department Head, Dr Tarik Davidson, said would be eliminated by the end of October. “We’ve identified that we have a backlog of ECHOs, and for the month of October, we’re going to be having ‘Operation ECHOs’. We’re bringing in a team from Northwell in New York, then we’re bringing in a team from Calgary – a combination of about five cardiologists and five sonographers. And our intention is that at the end of October, we will have zero patients who are waiting for an ECHO at GPHC,” Dr Davidson disclosed on Saturday. He made this announcement at State House, where President Dr Irfaan Ali and other Health officials engaged the families of some of the children with congenital heart defects who will soon be undergoing surgery.
A cohort of 17 children will be the first to undergo the life-saving heart surgeries between September 28 and October 2 at the GPHC during a five-day mission by experts from the Apollo Health Systems out of India. They will be working with local medical teams to conduct the critical procedures. Some 40 children are currently awaiting specialised congenital heart surgery within the local public health system.
Following this five-day mission, the Government will facilitate another mission in December, during which 10 additional children will benefit from surgery. Additionally, systems have also been put in place to address the remaining cases by the first quarter of 2027. But even as the specialised Apollo team is coming to lend support for these complex procedures and will bring some of their own equipment, Dr Davidson pointed out that the GPHC over the years, has been able to build capacity across a number of areas as well as modernise and expand its equipment assets. This, he explained, was made possible due to the support of and investments made by the Guyana Government through the Health Ministry. In fact, the Head of the GPHC’s Paediatrics Department noted that he had recently requested two additional ventilators and was assured by the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robbie Rambarran, that it would be approved.
“These are the investments that are being made… and this is the support that we get. We’ve identified [that] we have a problem, we go to the administration, and we work along with them, and we get the support,” Dr Davidson emphasised. These efforts to reduce the backlog of surgical cases for children with congenital heart defects is not new. CEO Rambarran recalled that this programme of bringing specialised paediatric missions to Guyana to conduct life-saving procedures had started in the mid-2000s under the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration but was completely shut down in 2016 by the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) regime. The Ali-led Government subsequently restarted the initiative shortly after entering office in 2020. Since then, there have been at least three paediatric cardiac missions conducted annually by the Gift of Life International to clear the backlog. In one of the latest missions, a 25-member team had worked alongside local doctors and nurses to perform 10 paediatric cardiac catheterisations and 6 open-heart surgeries on Guyanese children with congenital heart disease back in August 2025.