Management overhaul needed at Georgetown Hospital -APNU+AFC

At a Monday morning press conference, three health care professionals from the coalition spoke of the need for the corporation to be held more accountable for the medical care it offers and said advanced training for staff members is urgently needed.

Management overhaul needed at Georgetown Hospital   -APNU+AFC

The APNU+AFC coalition has disclosed that it is considering a management overhaul at the country’s chief health care facility , the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation – GPHC – as it seeks to address
the many issues plaguing the local health sector.

At a Monday morning press conference, three health care professionals from the coalition spoke of the need for the corporation to be held more accountable for the medical care it offers and said advanced
training for staff members is urgently needed.

Former Parliamentarian Dr. Karen Cummings was very outspoken on the need for a change in the management structure at the GPHC which she said currently allows for the Minister of Health to give too many directives.

According to Dr. Cummings, training and infrastructural upgrade were also urgently needed to facilitate plans to improve the efficiency and the level of healthcare offered throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Dr. George Norton reinforced his colleague’s call for better training. He said it has always been his desire for the health sector and the Georgetown hospital to concentrate more on training.

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Dr. Norton said health care workers needed to be trained better in work ethnics even as the conditions under which they work are improved.

“If we don’t invest in our human resource we will not get the desired results and that is where the coalition will focus its energies. I will be happy to see the hospital provide specialist care in all areas,” Norton said.

Stemming the current high attrition rate and improving the remuneration of health care workers serving the overburdened public health system are also among the coalition’s short term plans.

The coalition, once elected intends to make the GPHC accountable and the current situation that allows for money to be given to the hospital through “blank cheques” without accountability will end.

Dr. Cummings spoke directly to issues relating to mental health, maternal mortality and suicide and said those issues are high on the coalition’s agenda to be addressed. “Guyana is in a health crisis… the unity team is dissatisfied with quality of medical care offered and efficiency of institutions around the country. Person can ill afford the care being offered,” she added.

The medial doctor said Guyana is lagging behind in terms of health policies when compared to other regional countries and said policy refurbishment will be undertaken.

Both Dr. Cummings and Dr. Norton along with Dr. Surendra Persaud said every effort will be made to reduce the number of mothers who die at public health facilities while given birth.

The APNU+AFC maintains that a specialty hospital, which the PPP Civic administration is pursuing, was not priority on the long list of improvements and health preventative methods to be instituted.

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