Health professionals in Region Two are in dire need of a water ambulance to transport severely ill patients across the Essequibo River, according to Regional Health Officer, Dr Ranjeev Singh.
Dr. Singh explained that doctors are forced to send their critical patients with the ferry which operates scheduled trips at 5am and 4pm.
“If there is any patient that is critical, we have to wait until the next ferry is scheduled…and then the timeframe is two hours in this ferry,” he explained.
The RHO added, “if we get a Water Ambulance, it’s going to take us 45 minutes maximum from Supenaam to Parika which would decrease the time and obviously the percentage of the patients surviving will increase as well.”
According to Dr. Singh, an average of four patients are transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital every week.
Critical patients, who are in need of emergency care, are usually transported via airplanes from the Hampton Court airstrip, but this too is affected by the weather at the time.
“We had incidents where we had very critical cases, for example motor vehicle accidents, we would have trans[ported] patients to Georgetown via plane. However, I think it can cut the cost if we have the water ambulance and at times, the plane cannot land at the airstrip because of the weather.
“I don’t think anything will prevent a water ambulance from moving,” the RHO noted.
The Suddie Hospital on the Essequibo Coast is the Regional Hospital, but it also serves residents of Hogg Island, Wakenaam and Leguan islands in the Essequibo River. The RHO noted that the water ambulance will also assist with moving critical patients from these areas.
