Berbice medical supplies

By Kristen Macklingam

The shortage of medical supplies at the New Amsterdam Hospital, Berbice, is climbing to a crisis level as Doctors are lacking essential necessities to properly and efficiently diagnose patients.

This is according to Region Six  (East Berbice-Corentyne) Chairman David Armogan, who told Guyana Times that  despite being notified of the situation at the New Amsterdam Hospital, the Public Health Ministry was yet to respond or provide the much-needed assistance to the medical facility.

Armogan told Guyana Times, in a telephone interview on Tuesday, that the situation at the NA Hospital was a serious and pressing issue that has been ongoing for almost a month.

“They don’t have any reagents to test cholesterol, to test liver functioning, kidney functions, and so Doctors find it very difficult to make proper diagnosis, because they don’t have the backup services.  We used to get the reagents, but over the last month or so, I don’t know what has been happening. So if you can’t get the reagents, you can’t do the proper testing,” he stated.

Armogan said he wrote the Public Health Ministry on January 6 on the matter after officials at the Hospital notified him of the situation, which posed a threat to public health care in the Region.

However, he is yet to receive a reply confirming that the letter has been received and action will be taken to address the issue at hand.

“The Health Ministry would normally supply all the drugs, the reagents, and films for the x-rays and so on … The New Amsterdam Hospital is also short of x-ray films too so we can’t even do proper x-rays. We have a big hospital and we can’t get basic treatments,” the Region Six Chairman pointed out.

He explained that at present the only options of patients and others seeking medical attention were spending large sums of money at private health facilities or waiting until the Hospital could treat them.

“Either people wait and there will be a backlog or spend a lot of money and go to private hospitals to do these tests, but this hospital caters especially for older folks and poor people. This is a hospital that takes care of the poorer class of people. Asking them to go to private and paying all the money; they can’t afford it,” Armogan posited.

He further noted that some of the Doctors stationed at the New Amsterdam Hospital were also complaining, because they were unable to perform their duties as they should owing to the lack of testing and diagnosis procedures.

“The Hospital is also short on drugs which are used every day, specifically for pregnant women; those drugs for them are not there,” the Regional Chairman added. (kristenm@guyanatimesgy.com)