Health Ministry takes medical outreach to Region 10

− as specialists make home visits in riverine communities

Residents of the Malali and Muritaro communities along the Demerara River in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) had their medical concerns addressed during a specialised medical outreach on Saturday.

The initiative is a collaborative effort between the Health Ministry and the region’s health office.
Director General at the Health Ministry, Dr Vishwa Mahadeo headed the exercise and worked along with visiting doctors and specialists, to address health concerns such as diabetes, dental hygiene and dentistry, ophthalmology and rehabilitation of persons recovering from strokes.
“It’s more than the usual outreach; it’s the direction in which we are going, taking health care to the people. It has already started in Region One, Region Nine and Region Eight. So, bringing it into the interior and the riverine communities in Region 10 is actually the fourth step that we are taking this direction,” Dr Mahadeo told the Department of Public Information (DPI) during the outreach.

He explained that the initiative is a directive from President Dr Irfaan Ali, for healthcare services to be made more accessible to all Guyanese.
In January, during an outreach to the region led by His Excellency, he had instructed, in keeping with the manifesto of the PPP/C, that there must be equitable and equal healthcare countrywide. President Ali had also singled out the care of expectant mothers as very important.
“It’s a case of bringing in experts, specialists to deal with patients, so for example, we have and will be visiting the home of those bedridden patients, taking the diabetic foot care to them, taking the rehab staff there so that they could advise relatives about what kinds of exercises the patient would need to do.

The next outreach is also going to include ultrasound, so those who have need for ultrasound, especially pregnant women, they will have their ultrasound done within the community and they don’t have to go to Linden.
The team that visited Region 10 on Saturday branched off to cover the 47 and 58 Miles, Mabura area as well.
“We are gathering data and making a list of the patients that need surgical intervention, so when we get all of this, we can go onto the next stage of providing that to patients also,” Dr Mahadeo explained.
He added that each outreach will be followed up by the visit of a doctor, one month after the specialised exercise was held. Saturday’s team included Regional Health Officer for Region 10, Dr Gregory Harris, local medical staff and several specialists from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.