Every health facility in Guyana will be able to provide over 100 different types of health interventions, according to Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony.
This is in keeping with the government’s plan to expand public primary healthcare services across the country.
He made this announcement on Wednesday during an award ceremony for nurses at the Ministry of Health, Brickdam, Georgetown.
“At every public health facility – health post, health centre – we want to offer close to 117 different types of interventions, we have mapped that out, we want people to be acquainted with it and therefore you can help us to deliver some of these things,” Dr. Anthony told the nurses gathered at the event.
He explained the importance of ensuring that essential health services are available countrywide to minimise long-distance travel for these services.
Mental health screening and services will be a key focus of these interventions, the health minister stated.
“There are people who might be depressed and it goes undetected and very often there is a close correlation between depression and people wanting to commit suicide, and if we are unable to detect these things early then it can lead to fatal consequences.”
Dr. Anthony further revealed plans to eliminate infectious diseases such as filaria and leprosy.
“We have seen with malaria, TB and HIV that we can control these things, that we have all the tools to be able to do that, but again we want people to be appropriate trained to have the right type of intervention,” he said.
He also spoke about specialization, specifically in nursing in areas such as oncology care and highlighted plans underway to establish an oncology centre offering radiotherapy and chemotherapy in Guyana.
“Right now when people need certain types of treatment they have to go to other countries, we want to make sure we can offer all of those services here,” Dr. Anthony noted.
Dr. Anthony also revealed that the government will be rolling out specialised training courses and challenged the nurses to step forward and seize opportunities to contribute to these efforts.
“When we put out those calls, we really would like to see people coming forward to take up these types of challenges,” the health minister said.
