…providing health care to rural areas through technology
The Public Health Ministry has indicated that arrangements are in place for a telemedicine programme to be implemented in five regions across Guyana.
This announcement was made by Minister Volda Lawrence on Thursday last during a courtesy call by the newly-inducted Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Lilian Chatterjee.
Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence during the meeting with Canadian High Commissioner Lilian Chatterjee
According to Lawrence, telemedicine, also referred to as ‘e-health’ or ‘telehealth’, allows healthcare professionals to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients with the use of telecommunications technology, eliminating the need for face-to-face meetings with doctors or nurses. In addition, she noted that the programme will reduce the dependency on medevac services in and out of the interior regions.
As such, the telemedicine initiative is set to target rural areas throughout the country, with special focus on Regions One (Barima-Waini); Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
During her meeting with the Public Health Minister, the Canadian High Commissioner expressed delight over the execution of this much-needed initiative. She pledged her country’s commitment to the successful implementation of this undertaking, which she dubbed “very important”.
“I am at the disposal of my government and yours,” Chatterjee said, stating that her tenure in Guyana will see the continuation of “our good relations with the Government of Guyana”.
In fact, the Canadian diplomat further promised to “look into this more to see if there are opportunities”.
Meanwhile, in responding to the support offered by the foreign dignitary, Minister Lawrence extended appreciation to Chatterjee for coming on board with the initiative.
Lawrence then conveyed Guyana’s gratitude to Canada as a long-standing diplomatic partner, especially in offering assistance to “achieve our objectives”. With that, the Public Health Minister predicted that Chatterjee’s incumbency would result in further “positive results” from the relationship shared by the two friendly nations.
Also emanating from the meeting is the intention of utilising the telemedicine approach to zoom in on Maternal and Child Health (MCH) needs of the farflung communities of Guyana. This is in light of the alarmingly high maternal mortality rate which currently stands at 121/100,000 while the infant mortality ratio stands at a record of 23/1000.
This information was relayed by Dr Ertenisa Hamilton, an MCH Officer attached to the Ministry.
Hamilton went on to say that pregnancy-induced hypertension (high blood pressure) and post-partum haemorrhage are the chief killers of pregnant women while respiratory infections and premature births kill the newborns cited in the local statistics. She subsequently outlined the possible reasons leading to such complications, outlining that delays in seeking and arrival of medical care, as well as further holdups in receiving appropriate emergency care conspire to cause the deaths of Guyanese pregnant women, particularly from rural and Indigenous communities.
On that note, the MCH Officer envisaged that with the implementation of the telemedicine programme, there will be a significant reduction in maternal, neo-natal, infant and child deaths within these vulnerable communities.
Adding to that, training programmes are currently underway to increase the capacity of residents as Community Health Workers (CHWs) within the target regions to aid in this mission.
Thus far, the Finance and Telecommunications Ministries have already thrown support behind the pending telemedicine programme while the existing MCH initiatives are being backed by the Canadian Government, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO). In light of the growing support, this technologically-advanced distance medicine approach is set to be up and running within the coming year.
