Telemedicine expands to villages affected by Mahdia tragedy

Acknowledging the importance of telemedicine in Guyana, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Tuesday said the service was expanded to more villages in Region Eight (Potaro- Siparuni) in the aftermath of the Mahdia tragedy.

The expansion was a direct response to the tragedy that claimed the lives of 20 children- 19 girls and a 5-year-old boy- hailing from several far-flung villages in the Region, the Health Minister said during an event at the Ministry’s Head Office at Brickdam, Georgetown.

Dr Anthony said telepsychiatry has effectively aided in treating the affected persons in various communities.

“One of the recent sites has also allowed us to do telepsychiatry for those communities who have been affected by the Mahdia tragedy.

“We now have them set up at the Georgetown Hospital where if any community member requires services and we don’t have it, through this mechanism they will be able to connect to the hospital,” the Health Minister said.

These villages are close-knit, therefore the deaths significantly affected not just close family but the majority of the villagers.

Dr. Anthony explained that the level of care needed following the tragedy required immediate support and considering the distance, the best option was to connect through this network. Now, there are telemedicine centres at Chinapow, Karisparu, Micobie, El Paso that offer psychological and other medical services.

Generally speaking about the telemedicine programme countrywide, the minister said there are centres in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine.

“We’ve seen that since we started the operation that quite a number of persons have been able to be saved because they have severe conditions and if we didn’t have these connections then they wouldn’t have gotten medical services,” Dr. Anthony contended.

This telemedicine project started last year in four small, far-flung communities in Region Nine (Upper Takutu- Upper Essequibo). A number of computers, cameras and probes have been installed at these centres to guide the community doctors and healthcare professionals.

Using the device, real-time ultrasounds and ECGs can be conducted with doctors from the referral hospital in the city to help the community health worker to make a diagnosis.

Other assistance is still being offered by Northwell Health and Mount Sinai.