The U.S Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team (LAMAT) today commenced its 2025 Medical Mission in Guyana, in partnership with the Ministry of Health.
The Medical team will be working closely with Guyanese healthcare professionals to provide high quality medical, surgical, ophthalmology, and dental care services at the Port Mourant Hospital, the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital, the West Demerara Regional Hospital, the Georgetown Public Hospital and the Cheddi Jagan Dental School. They will conclude their mission on the 11th April.
At the launch of the mission today at the Ministry of Health’s Brickdam Office, Command Surgeon of the US Air Forces Southern, Colonel Brian Gavitt said LAMAT will provide services similar to those it provided during its last mission here in 2023.
“This year’s mission leverages the skills of nearly 60 medical professionals working hand in hand with our colleagues from Guyana to provide primary care, surgical care, dental care, critical care and equipment repair her Georgetown, West Demerara, Port Mourant and New Amsterdam,” Colonel Gavitt said.
Commander of LAMAT, Colonel James Bershinsky said the medical teams are already on the ground and ready to work.
He said over the next two weeks, the medical team intends to build lasting partnerships, and exchange knowledge and skills with the local medical team here, while providing specialized medical care.
Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony said when the team conducted its first mission in Guyana in 2023, it was done primarily in Region 4. He said he is pleased that this time around it has expanded to include regions of the country.
He said through partnerships with US medical missions, Guyana has been able to not only provide specialized medical care but also build capacity in specialized areas.
“We have had in the Health Sector, we have had different teams from the US coming in, and working with the hospitals, especially the surgeons at the Georgetown Hospital and I would say because of that type of collaboration, we have been able to build a lot of capacity in the hospital. So, for example, the team that comes from Maryland on Operations Walk has helped to build a lot of capacity and now we are able to do the implants on hips, I think that has been very good, because over the years, they worked with our local team to be able to develop this,” Minister Anthony said.
Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, Adrienne Galanek said LATAM’s goal is to provide medical support to Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Kitts and Nevis. The regional initiative will see the utilization of more than US$1M in medical equipment and supplies.
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