Northwell surgeons to perform over 60 operations at GPHC

Advancing the level of healthcare available in Guyana, a surgical team from United States (US)-based Northwell Health has embarked on a six-day mission to perform over 60 hernia operations at the Georgetown Public Health Corporation (GPHC).
During a recent press conference, Head of Surgery at the GPHC, Dr Shilindra Rajkumar explained that the medical facility approached Northwell several months ago to assist with a backlog of cases they were having difficulty completing.
“Northwell volunteered to throw support behind this. They provide the expertise and some of the materials that we were not able to source locally.” Thus far, 56 adult patients are slated to undergo primarily groin hernias, though some are additionally required to undergo operations to address umbilical hernias and hydroceles as well.
Dr Rajkumar noted that the plan is for these patients to have a short-term hospital stay, with most expected to return home on the day of their surgery or the immediate day after.
“We have had six days planned [for this mission]. The first two days, which started [on Thursday], is an outpatient clinic where we’re going to review all the cases. The next three days [Saturday to Monday] will be the surgeries in the operating room. We’re anticipating somewhere between 20 and 25 cases per day.”
The Northwell surgical team consisting of three surgeons will be supported by a rotation of about 18 GPHC doctors.

Following the three days of surgeries, the mission includes a debriefing session to discuss the operations and plans for the future, and an academic session with the Northwell surgeons and GPHC medical residents to allow for information exchange.
In addition to reducing the backlog of cases, this mission is also aimed to increase the quality of care available in Guyana and reduce the future need for overseas treatment in such cases.
“We’re bringing down some different techniques that we’ve done that we’ve found helpful in these cases and we’re going to be teaching those techniques to help support the team here,” Northwell Vice President of the Department of Surgery, Dr Nathan Christopherson related.
Meanwhile, Northwell Vice President of Global Health, Dr Eric Cioe-Pena highlighted the blossoming relationship between Northwell and Guyana since the US healthcare provider signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with GPHC in 2021.
“Northwell Health is here as a friend and colleague to help realise that vision [GPHC has for healthcare in Guyana], cut some corners with procurement, make sure that we can get supplies that are needed into the country and make sure that [local doctors] are trained in an expeditious way in how to use new technologies and equipment,” Dr Cioe-Pena said.

In continuing this partnership, a similar mission, though dealing with more complex hernia cases, is already onstream for this November.
Northwell has also been engaging medical professionals at GPHC in a number of training opportunities, including on Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT).
ECT services are expected to be introduced in the local hospital’s psychiatry department by October, utilising this training as well as equipment needed to perform these procedures that were donated by Northwell.