Lady Janet – The dental boat

Little is known about the hard work of the “Lady J”, a dental boat that has been providing oral health services to remote Guyanese locations for more than a year. The vessel is equipped with a health team that visits riverain areas and provides medical services.

Launched by former Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy in celebration of oral health month last year, the boat is named Lady Janet after former first lady and president, the late Janet Jagan, in recognition of her commitment to heath care in Guyana.
Janet Jagan was pivotal to the transformation of health care in Guyana, having first started developing health centres and health posts. Under her watch as health minister, the country benefited from about 50 health centres constructed countrywide.
When the boat was launched, the health boat and the equipment within were funded by resources from the Oral Dental Health Services of Guyana.
Dr. Ramsammy, at the launching of the boat in 2011, said when he became minister of health, Guyana only had about 17 dentists, a number too inadequate to supply the nation’s dental needs. Now, Guyana has more than 36 practicing dentists; a result of the “ministry’s vision of ensuring dental providers in all regions of Guyana, and even more, ensuring a dentist in every sub-region of Guyana.”
This vision has been realised because of the Cheddi Jagan Dental School, and Ramsammy said the launching of the boat is another effort on the part of the ministry to provide better health care for everyone. He noted Guyana can now boast of being one of the few countries that can claim an “aquatic health boat.”
At intervals, the boat would offer specialized services such as dentistry and eye care, and would also serve as a specialist ambulance along the Pomeroon River, taking emergency cases to the Oscar Joseph Hospital.
This venture shows the commitment of the government to provide modern oral health care and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Recently, “Lady J”, along with the Ministry of Health personnel, completed another successful medical outreach in the Pomeroon River, Region Two.
Health centres and health posts in the area saw 511 residents receiving various health services. In the village of Karawab, medical personnel attended to 138 individuals and 98 out-patients were seen.
More than 23 persons benefitted from other services such as tests for low vision, audiology and HIV testing. In St Monica and Kabakaburi, hundreds of residents also benefitted from similar services offered by the health personnel. In St. Monica, 82 out-patients were seen. Some forty-two were tested for low vision, while 20 received the various dental services, audiology and HIV and TB tests. In addition, more than 100 reading glasses were issued to several residents who visited the various outreach centres and posts.
The trained personnel included Dr. Bob Ramnauth, Medical Superintendent (ag.), Kumar Dass, Medical Outreach Co-coordinator/Pharmacist, and Shanta Springer, Medical Records Supervisor.
The Ministry of Health will continue to hold outreaches in different parts of the Pomeroon River using the services of Lady Janet in order to better serve the people of Guyana. (Taken from Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)