Health Ministry to bridge “fragmented” chronic disease treatment – Dr Anthony

When it comes to chronic diseases in Guyana, the Health Ministry has undertaken a new plan to change the landscape of treatment, after realising that patients are dealing with a fragmented system to access care.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony indicated on Tuesday that while treatment is offered at the various healthcare levels, the current system does not cater for holistic treatment – a challenge they are now trying to change.

“Our current system from health centres, district hospitals, regional hospitals, we can care for diabetics and other people with chronic disease. However, in some instances, the care can be fragmented so that’s what we’re trying to address,” he noted.
For this, several areas within the sector will be assisted with new resources, programmes and partnerships with international agencies. The Ministry has established a team within the Chronic Disease Department, specifically to execute this five-year agenda.
“Our anticipation is that we’ll also have a plan for the next five years in different areas of chronic diseases and hopefully we’ll be able to roll that programme out and change the landscape of what is happening with chronic diseases here in Guyana. We have some specific areas that we’re looking at because of the prevalence of some of these illnesses.”
One of the priority areas is looking at special programmes for diabetes treatment. One such initiative is a “one-stop-shop” where various services will be offered. In this year’s budget, an allocation of $35 million has been set aside to build this facility. It is a project that has already shown promising results in countries around the world.
The Minister outlined, “When you come to the centre, all the services will be available to you and we think by doing that, we’ll prevent the kind of fragmented care that is sometimes obtained. If this model works, then we’ll replicate it in other regions. We have seen similar programmes like this working in India and Haiti. They have been working at this for the last 10 years or so and there’s also a programme like this in Brazil. It’s not a new concept. It would just be new to Guyana.”
For cancer care, a specific cancer control programme is being developed – a process that is slated for completion within a couple of months. It will look at the subcomponents of cancer and dedicate focus on prevalent cancers among men and women.
“We’re getting support from the International Atomic Energy Agency to help us to develop that cancer care programme. There’s a consultant that is assigned to work along with us. Over the next couple of months, we’re hoping to have that programme developed.”
To address cardiovascular diseases, Government will be partnering with the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) to introduce a programme called Hearts. Hearts is aimed at reducing some of the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, including reduced sugar consumption and trans fats. (G12)