MoH Hearts programme expanding incrementally – Dr Anthony

– Available at 171 primary healthcare sites

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) HEARTS protocol, which Guyana adopted in 2023 has drastically improved the Health Ministry’s delivery of cardiovascular care in Guyana.

This was according to subject minister Dr. Frank Anthony during his address at an event at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown on Saturday.
The event brought together healthcare professionals, experts, and stakeholders from across the country.
It features informative presentations, engaging panel discussions, and networking opportunities, providing invaluable insights into the latest developments and best practices in cardiology at GPHC and Guyana.
However, Dr. Anthony told the gathering that the HEARTS programme has been implemented in 171 different health centres across the country and is playing a pivotal role in making cardiac services available to persons in remote areas. This saw a total of 825 patients accessing cardiology services in 2023.
Additionally, the ministry has been able to introduce new medications that are more effective and would lead to better control of various cardiovascular conditions.
He noted that the goal is to emphasise primary health care and preventative medicine to reduce the burden of complications associated with heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
“One of the challenges that we still have is that while we have introduced this programme, we have seen that there is still a need for better compliance of our patients. So, we have medicines, we have people who are following guidelines, the challenge now is to make sure that we get our patients to comply so that we can see better outcomes.”
Meanwhile, he related that through its collaboration with Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, a team from GPHC will develop national guidelines for cardiovascular care to be able to standardise guidelines across the health sector.
Partnerships with several universities outside of Guyana are also in the pipeline to facilitate training for medical doctors in various specialities including cardiology.
According, to him this will aid in the relaunch of the Pediatric Cardiac programme, which was stopped between 2015-2020.
“Having purchased the equipment, and trained people, we have been able to restart that programme now last year we did 18 surgeries, this year already we have finished eight, and with two more teams coming in during the year, we are hoping that at least 30 pediatric surgeries would be completed during this year,” he stated.
The National HEARTS initiative focuses on providing healthcare for patients with non-communicable diseases, with a major focus on chronic lung illnesses, and more importantly, the factors that lead to these diseases.
The HEARTS Technical Package comprises six modules and an implementation guide that helps healthcare providers. This is to standardise the level of care provided and prevent the possibility of patients restarting treatments. This means all healthcare facilities are aware of the methods of treatment for particular diseases.