West Dem. Hospital plagued with staff shortage

By Bibi Khatoon

The administration of the Georgetown Public Hospital is calling on the APNU+AFC government to fix the numerous issues which are plaguing regional hospitals across the country.

The Georgetown Public Hospital has delivered a total of 606 babies in October and there were 136 Cesareans. On Friday, it was revealed that the main health institution receives the most referrals from the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WRDH), due to the lack of facilities and services there.

Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology programme of the GPHC, Dr Lucio Pedro pointed to the importance of having the cooperation of the regional hospitals as he alluded to challenges there.

“I understand they close at 5 o’ clock and after that, all patients come to Georgetown Hospital. The reasons cited are; no blood, no consultant, sometimes the roof has caved in, or the hospital is just closed because it is night time and there is no on-call payment,” Dr Pedro said during the commissioning of the new Maternity Ward of the hospital.

Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence who was also at the event used her time to respond to the issues and admitted that the West Dem. hospital operates at a lesser capacity after 16:00hrs.

She noted that this is because there are not sufficient laboratory technicians and other technical staff to work beyond that eight-hour period. She said works have been ongoing with the Regional Authority and the Minister of Communities to ensure that the situation is addressed.

“The work is being done and before the end of the year, that hospital will be run on a 24-hour basis,” the Minister said.

The Minister said works are ongoing to upgrade other primary health care facilities across the country to ease the strain on the Georgetown Hospital.