Region 2 health system boosted with $24M water ambulance

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Monday handed over a river ambulance and a boat house to the tune of $24 million to the Region Two administration to transport patients from Supenaam to Parika who might be in need of emergency medical assistance.

The river ambulance is fully equipped with the necessary medical gadgets including an oxygen tank, heart monitors, stretcher, and other equipment which will play a critical role in providing support in a fast and efficient manner until the patients are transferred to a hospital.
Dr Anthony encouraged the administration to use the vessel for its intended purposes while noting that the region’s health sector has been greatly boosted.
Additionally, elaborating more on the vessel, Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Ranjeev Singh related that it will help the hospitals to have transportation to Parika in an event of an emergency and more so when an aircraft cannot land at the airstrip.

“This will be an efficient way to transport our patients without their lives being at risk. Sometimes the plane cannot come to the airstrip due to climate weather and proper lighting at night… So, we can journey our patients [to] hospitals in a timely manner,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Regional Chairperson Vilma De Silva thanked the Government for the major boost in the health sector, specifically the river ambulance and the newly commissioned dialysis centre.
She added that the delivery service is very important in the health system and as such, lauded the effort of the Government for its timely interventions.