After several years of limited x-ray services at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Guyana’s main referral hospital, three new x-ray machines that cost approximately $113 million, have been procured and are being set up there.
There are two fixed ceiling mounted machines and one portable machine for the hospital’s emergency room. The systems are fully digital, eliminating the need for x-ray films.
With x-ray technology, medical professionals can see an individuals’ bones, muscle and other internal body parts without cutting open an individual. This helps the professionals to diagnose, treat and monitor a number of different medical conditions.
The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (ag) Robbie Rambarran explained that previously, there were three fixed x-ray systems at the hospital. But, after some time, those machines became dilapidated.
“There was little to no preventative maintenance since the ending of 2015. and there were all sorts of excuses why this is so (and) this led to a high volume of equipment downtime from 2016,” Rambarran stated.
Upon his return to the hospital’s management team in 2021, he said that he strived to ensure that this situation was remedied.
This led to the use of another portable machine which could only perform limited functions and later, the procurement of these newer machines.
These new machines were procured since July 2021 but disruptions to the global supply chain resulted in several delays in shipping and receiving the equipment.
At a simple commissioning ceremony at the Georgetown Hospital on Saturday, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony noted that the new digitalised x-ray equipment would allow doctors to get those images quickly, thereby allowing them to make more timely patient diagnoses.
Importantly, he said that this is the standard that the ministry is hoping to introduce across the country. Already, he highlighted that the Health Ministry is procuring at least three more digital x-ray machines to replace the old, analog equipment used currently.
“We are going to retire those machines and are going digital,” he stated.
It was recently announced that six new hospitals will be constructed across Guyana. And Dr. Anthony assured Guyanese that these hospitals will be replete with modern, digital technologies- including digital x-ray equipment.
“This is part of the modernisation wave,” Dr. Anthony highlighted.
