There are 43 health facilities in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), and many of them are currently undergoing infrastructural works in addition to rolling out new health and wellness programmes.
This was revealed by Region Three Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Naail
Region Three Regional Health Officer (RHO) Dr Naail Uthman
Uthman in an interview with GINA.
“We have seen improvement in a lot of areas. New programmes are the adolescent health clinic, the teenage pregnancy support group, and mental health GAP Intervention Guide. These are all being rolled out at Parika, West Demerara, Leonora, Vreed-en-Hoop, among several other (areas),” Dr Uthman detailed.
He said infrastructural works are ongoing to extend health facilities across the region, to improve the quality and quantity of services being provided to residents in those communities.
The West Demerara Regional Hospital now has a new doctor’s lounge, the male and female wards are being extended, the nurses department is being relocated, and the hospital will have a new entrance as of next week, Dr Uthman detailed.
The Leonora Health Centre will have an extended waiting area and a maternity ward soon. Dr Uthman said this development is part of the Maternal and Child Health programme. Den Amstel, Santa Mission, Windsor Forest and Parika facilities will also undergo works soon.
According to GINA, the RHO explained that the increased population poses some challenges: there is need for more equipment, and power outages sometimes cause damage to equipment.
Other areas that are being addressed diligently are building staff capacity and ridding the region of expired drugs, both of which have already begun, Dr Uthman explained.
Region Three has four hospitals: the West Demerara Regional Hospital at Vreed-en-Hoop; the Leonora Diagnostic Centre at Leonora, West Coast Demerara; the Leguan District Hospital on Leguan Island; and the Wakenaam District Hospital on the island of Wakenaam. There are also 18 health centres and 21 health posts.
The Ministry of Public Health has some $21.5B allocated for 2017 health works.
