Region 3 to work closely with Public Health Ministry

Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) will be working to have closer collaboration between regional health officials and the Public Health Ministry.
Regional Executive Officer (REO) Denis Jaikarran explained that the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) has recognised the need for this sort of collaboration and would be working to ensure it happens, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release stated.
According to Jaikarran, the RDC has realised that it needs to reach out and work along with the Ministry to execute and complete capital and other projects within the Region’s health sector.
One of the main areas which will see improvement through this collaboration is the system for managing, storing and distributing medical supplies in a timely manner to all health facilities across the Region.
“Our relationship is going to be built stronger with the Ministry of Public Health and that is going to allow us to be able to coordinate in a better way in 2017 how we receive and distribute our drugs so that the end user, meaning the patients and those who deserve, would have adequate availability throughout the year,” Jaikarran said.
He added that it was only through an improved relationship between the two agencies that the Region’s health sector could develop. “A good relationship between the regional administration level and that of the Ministry of Public Health, once we can iron out that and fix those things, we are going to be able to get to where we want to be,” the REO said.
The Region’s 2017 budget for health focuses mainly on improving, upgrading and enhancing the infrastructure of a number of health facilities, as well as ensuring that doctors are placed at health centres and hospitals in the Region.
Works completed for 2016 include the rehabilitation of two operating theatres at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, doctors’ quarters and parking lot and the completion of a High Dependency Unit.