US charity to help develop radiology services in Guyana
– donates medical equipment to GPHC
united States-based charity RAD-AID International will be working along with the Public Health Ministry to
Dr Battino handing over the equipment
develop radiology services in Guyana, and the first major step will be the introduction of a Radiology Residency Programme in September of this year.
This was announced by the Ministry following a meeting between members of RAD-AID International and Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton, on Monday to discuss their plans.
RAD-AID is a group comprising of radiologists, technologists, Nurses, and other support staff who work in radiology and are dedicated to improving radiology services in developing countries.
On Tuesday, at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Resource Centre, the charity donated a number of essential medical equipments to GPHC’s emergency department.
Among the items donated were a Cardiac Heart Probe, one sonoscape Ultrasound machine and one Linear Abdominal Probe.
Director of RAD-AID Latin America, Dr Gillian Battino said that the charity’s goal in Guyana is to improve radiology services by bringing Guyana up to speed with what is available, in order to improve health outcomes.
According to her, the most important step in developing these services is the establishment of a three-year Radiology Residency programme in Guyana.
“There are other examples of programmes that are built between a US institution and the Georgetown Public Hospital and we’re mimicking that so there are internal medicines, emergency medicine, obstetrics and now we will add radiology to that so that Guyanese doctors are trained to work in Guyana as radiologists,” she explained.
Dr Battino highlighted that Guyana needs approximately 80 radiologists to serve the population and three persons will be trained each year during the three-year residency.
“We plan to utilise the educational system in place at the residency programme in the States [the US] and to have the residents spend three to six months in the States to get a foundation and then do the rest of the training in Guyana with US physicians coming to Guyana to train,” she stated.
She said that the idea is to build a sustainable programme which will continue for as long as possible. Their work in Guyana, she noted, is not limited to physician training, since they also plan to improve nurses training, with attention to radiology and technology.
According to her, improving the technology available to perform radiology procedures by adding electronic storage for x-rays which will include reporting systems is a major part of their efforts in Guyana.
Dr Battino said that they hope to put a system in place where an X-ray can be obtained in Bartica and read in Georgetown, using the Internet.
RAD-AID donated an ultrasound machine to the emergency department at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The charity also received four CT scanners from Phillips Corporation and will be handing over two of them to Guyana, with the remaining two going to Haiti.
The two CT scanners, which are valued at US$200,000 each, will be placed at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and the Bartica Regional Hospital in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton thanked the team for their efforts, pointing out that he is looking forward to their support in the future. He was especially happy about the residency programme, since he is a strong advocate for continuing medical education.
