Under a strategic partnership with the Health Ministry, a specialist team from the George Washington University Hospital is currently in Guyana on a seven-day medical outreach. The 21-member team, which consists of urologists, anaesthesiologists, general surgeons and nurses, arrived in Guyana last Saturday.
The team includes urologist Joseph Benjamin, a Guyana-born doctor who left this country when he was a child. This is his first trip back to his homeland.
The team, which has brought its own medical supplies and surgical instruments, has been conducting complex surgeries in their respective specialisations at the Georgetown Public Hospital and the West Demerara Regional Hospital. Approximately 20 surgeries of the most complicated cases in urology, and approximately 40 general surgeries were scheduled.
In addition, the team will hold several medical and nursing lectures accredited by the Guyana Medical Council. These sessions aim to share new concepts and best practices within the respective professions.
The medical team is accompanied by a video production crew that has been working on productions about Guyana’s health sector.
Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran invited the team to Guyana during a visit to Washington DC in September 2012 for the 28th Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Regional Sanitary Conference. The minister’s invitation was part of the ministry’s ongoing initiative to forge new strategic partnerships with the international community to boost Guyana’s health services. Under the minister’s stewardship, similar outreaches have been done with Calgary University, among others.
The university hospital team, which visited in January to conduct a preliminary assessment of Guyana’s health facilities, is financing its air travel cost, while the ministry is providing funding for housing, ground transportation and meals.
