Fire believed to be of electrical origin destroyed a section of the Lethem Regional Hospital, Central Lethem, Region Nine, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo at approximately 4: 30h on Tuesday.
The fire resulted in the main pharmacy of the hospital, which supplies drugs to all health centres, health posts and other district hospitals, being completely destroyed.
Guyana Times International understands that there were several patients at the hospital at the time the incident occurred.
Those patients were immediately transferred to the old Lethem Hospital, as police, soldiers, and residents attempted to put out the fire via the use of fire extinguishers and water brigades.
Region Nine Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ronald Harsawack told this publication in a brief comment that an alarm was raised by one of the nurses on duty, that smoke was emanating from the pharmacy.
He said he immediately contacted the Lethem Power Company with the aim of having them disconnect all power to the hospital.
“The hospital was dark, the visibility was poor… but we evacuated all patients before the lights were cut, we tried to enter from the front of the pharmacy, but we couldn’t see… so we broke the vents where the AC was.” The fire lasted approximately an hour, Harsawack said, stating that the process of putting the fire out was tedious as the fire extinguishers were not enough to extinguish the fire forcing residents to form a bucket brigade.
The REO said that all five patients (two maternity and three other patients) were transferred to the old Lethem Hospital nearby and will remain there until the new hospital is cleaned.
“Full service will be restored to the old hospital,” he stated. When contacted for a comment, Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy said he could not quantify the amount of drugs lost as a result of the fire, but assured that the Lethem Regional Hospital is not the only facility used to store medications in that area.
“We have another bond where we keep bulk medicine,” Ramsammy explained.
He said a team from his ministry is already stationed in Lethem to ensure that enough medication is available to treat those patients in need. The Health Ministry is working to ensure that enough hypertension and diabetes medication is available for those in need. A team of health officials, along with members of the Guyana Fire Service, is said to have arrived in Lethem, while Dr Ramsammy will be visiting the region today.
The new Lethem Hospital was commissioned on September 14, 2009. It was a joint venture between the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the government of Guyana.
