Guyana one step closer to improving Radiology services

The Ministry of Public Health will be introducing a Radiology Residency Programme in September of this year. This program will aid in improving the Radiology Services in Guyana to what is available elsewhere, with the help of United States based Charity, RAD-AID.

Radiology is the science dealing with X-rays and other high-energy radiation, especially the use of such radiation for the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Team members of the Charity met with Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton to discuss their plans on Monday, June 6, 2016.

Director of RAD-AID Latin America, Dr. Gillian Battino said the most important step in developing these services is the development of a three year Radiology Residency programme in Guyana.

“There are other examples of programmes that are built between a US institution and the Georgetown Public Hospital and we’re mimicking that so there are internal medicines, emergency medicine, obstetrics and now we will add radiology to that, so that Guyanese doctors are trained to work in Guyana as radiologists,” she explained.

The director said the idea is to build a sustainable programme which will continue for as long as possible. Their work in Guyana, she noted, is not limited to physician training, since they also plan to improve nurses training, with attention to radiology and technology.

Dr. Battino highlighted that Guyana needs approximately 80 radiologists to serve the population and three persons will be trained each year during the three year residency.

“We plan to utilize the educational system in place at the residency programme in the states and to have the residents spend three to six months in the states to get a foundation and then do the rest of the training in Guyana with US physicians coming to Guyana to train,” she stated.

According to her, improving the technology available to perform radiology procedures by adding electronic storage for x-rays which will include reporting systems is a major part of their efforts in Guyana.

She said that they hope to put a system in place where an X-ray can be obtained in Bartica and read in Georgetown, using the internet.

RAD-AID will be donating an Ultra sound machine to the Emergency Department at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The Charity also received four CT scanners from Phillips Corporation and will be handing over two of them to Guyana, valued at US$200,000 each.

The Scanners will be placed at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital in Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) and the Bartica Regional Hospital in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).

Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton thanked the team for their efforts and told them that he is looking forward to their support in the future.

RAD-AID is a group comprising of Radiologists, technologists, Nurses, and other supportive staff who work in Radiology and are dedicated to improving Radiology services in developing countries.

Also present at the meeting was Head of the Accident and Emergency Unit at the GPHC, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, who had reached out to the charity, since it is his belief that Radiology services in Guyana are not as developed as they should be.