The Georgetown Public Hospital is increasingly seeing patients with head and long bone injuries linked to road accidents, and accidents on construction sites.

The problem is now causing a strain on the resources of the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), according to the Head of the  Orthopedics and Surgery Departments at the Georgetown Hospital, Dr David Samaroo.

In an interview with News Source, Dr Samaroo said within the last three years, the number of patients seen at the hospital for head, and long bone or arm or leg injuries has increased significantly.

“I am very happy that persons are able to purchase their own vehicles whether it is a motorcycle or a motorcar but in addition to that we have new roads and commuters are not using those roads responsibly. If you look around, you will see lots of new buildings as well that are going up, that are in construction for the development that is taking place at a very fast rate in Guyana and with this, we have a large amount of construction workers who are not complying with the appropriate safety gear, and therefore lots of them are getting injuries. So, I would say within the past year there is an increase burden to the healthcare system, especially here at the GPHC,” Dr Samaroo said.

According to Dr Samaroo, the injuries are far more severe when compared to injuries sustained by patients in previous years.

“Now, because persons are driving a bit faster, because the buildings are going up higher, it means that the impact of the injury is usually from high velocity forces, and therefore, what might have been considered a minor concussion before, patients are now coming with severe traumatic brain injuries, and instead of having a single long bone fracture, they are having multiple long bone fractures or multi organ injuries. It goes without saying that the recovery time for those persons is much longer,” he explained.

He said due to the severity of the injuries, patients are often hospitalized for a much longer period, putting a strain on the hospital’s resources. In response, the hospital has increased the capacity of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“We have increased the capacity of our Intensive Care Unit. First we had what was referred to as a six bed unit in the new inpatient building, and of recent, within the past two years, we have created a second Intensive Care Unit that houses another six beds in the maternity unity. So, we have actually doubled our capacity for patients requiring Intensive Care Services,” he said.

Dr Samaroo said resources aside, many patients are left with lifelong disabilities, adding that in the case of long bone injuries, some patients require amputation.

The hospital is therefore urging commuters to use the roadways safely, and in the case of construction workers, to ensure that they are well equipped with their safety gears when working.

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