Following criticisms of poor health care delivery in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) throughout the year, the Regional Health Committee is now boasting that there is an improvement.
New Amsterdam Hospital
Both the Plegtanker and No 76 Health Centres have been handed over to the Health Department with one commencing operations.
Just over a month ago, Guyana Times reported that the two health centres were still to be opened three years after construction.
However, Head of the Regional Health Committee Zamal Hussain recently told the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) that the Plegtanker Health Centre was opened and the other at No 76 Village is soon to be opened.
He also reported that the Dental Department at the New Amsterdam Hospital was opened after several months of complaints. In addition, he stated that the CT scan machine for that institution which was sitting for months is now being installed and will soon come into operation.
“The machine is actually in the room and there is still some fine work to be done”, Hussain told the RDC
Further, he posited that there have been rapid improvements, and congratulated the Director of Health Services Region Six and team.
“The Laboratory is running on a 24-hour basis. The Director said we are still in need of an X-ray machine urgently at the New Amsterdam Hospital because of the amount of X-rays that have to be done.”
Meanwhile, 178 vacancies exist in the Health system in the Region. Hussain said they need to be filled and pointed out that the Director of Regional Health Services and the Regional Executive Officer (REO) could not be blamed for not giving persons the opportunity to work even as Government has sent home thousands already for the year.
“The Director is advocating that the necessary agencies that they should put systems in place that we do the employments. Some of the employment might be above board where the REO or other persons can do this, but we are advocating that the Public Service Commission or the Public Service Ministry put systems in place to ensure that we have these vacancies filled and filled urgently”, he noted.
He admitted that the administration has serious problems with maids, porters, and auxiliary staff including cooks.
“We need to ensure that these vacancies are filled so that we can be able to have the system up and running. The auxiliary staff is important to the institution just as the doctors and the administrators are important. So we need to place serious emphasis on the employment.”
The Public Service Act mandates that the REO write to the relevant agencies to have existing vacancies filled.
