MoH gets 4 new mammogram machines to boost capacity for early detection of breast cancer – Dr Anthony

The Ministry of Health, in a bid to expand capacity for early detection of breast cancer, has this year procured four new mammogram machines. Slated to arrive in Guyana next month, the state-of-the-art equipment has been purchased through a partnership between the Guyana Government and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
According to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, when the machines arrive, they will be installed at four hospitals: the West Demerara Regional Hospital in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), the New Amsterdam Hospital in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), the Lethem Hospital in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and the Linden Hospital Complex in Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

Making this disclosure at the launch of the cervical cancer screening programme at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on Friday, Dr Anthony detailed, “The machines are on the way to Guyana, and once we get them, we’ll install them. One of the things that we have decided in the Government is that we want to have good quality equipment, and so we have been converting our X-rays (machines) and so forth to well-known, established leaders in these fields, like Siemens and GE and Philips. And for these mammograms, all of them are made by Siemens, which would be the highest quality or among the highest quality of equipment that you can have,” Dr. Anthony explained.
The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) currently houses the only mammogram machine in the public healthcare sector, and Dr. Anthony explained that the additional machines would boost the ministry’s ability to provide adequate resources to screen for breast cancer countrywide, and alleviate the burden of travelling to Georgetown.
“So, in women, cervical cancer is the number two, but breast cancer is number one. And again, we have to make sure that there are affordable mammograms. We have started the process of retrofitting spaces in the different hospitals to accommodate this. So, we believe that as soon as the equipment arrives, we’ll be able to install it and start up these services. It will be a good geographical spread, where persons will be able to access these services,” Dr Anthony disclosed.
After the machines have been installed, the minister said, the Health Ministry would be updating the public as to age groups and how persons can get screened.