Reducing infant mortality

Providing essential paediatric care and training in developing countries is the plan for a Canadian–based group

Guyana Help the Kids (GHTK) is a registered Canadian charity aiming to reduce neonatal and infant mortality in developing countries, particularly in Guyana. Its effort has seen significant success through visionary Guyanese, Dr Narendra Singh.
The organisation’s aim is to achieve its goal of decreasing infant mortality through sustainable changes within the healthcare sector. Its major focus has been to provide comprehensive education to local physicians, nurses and other allied healthcare professionals. In addition, GHTK has been assisting with the procurement of specialized equipment to elevate the level of neonatal care. The initial part of this project has been focused at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) with the opening of a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and an innovative paediatric residency programme and neonatal nursing programme.
Dr Singh, Chief of Paediatrics at Humber River Regional Hospital in Canada, in an interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, said he started GHTK three years ago and has accomplished a lot through the organisation.
“We are currently training six doctors to become paediatricians in Guyana, and adding another four in May. The first two will graduate in September. Currently, there are only three paediatricians in the country, and they all work in the private sector. We, with the help of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, started a one-year neonatal nursing programme and are currently training 11 nurses to become neonatal nurse specialists. They will graduate in May of this year,” he explained.
“We provided the majority of equipment and all of the training to open a 24-bed Level 3 NICU at the Georgetown Hospital in March of last year. As a result, we have dropped the neonatal mortality in half, essentially saving the lives of more than 80 babies in one year. We are currently collaborating with Buffalo Children’s Hospital to, for the first time, treat paediatric patients with cancer in Guyana. We have already started treating a number of children with leukaemia.”
Another programme the doctor noted is the Guyana Paediatric Residency Program. It is intended to train a group of three Guyanese doctors at a time, over a three-year time frame, to become paediatricians. This unique graduate programme would be conducted in Guyana primarily by a faculty from Canada, ‘Paediatric Associates’, working closely with the paediatric consultants in Guyana.
The objective of this programme is to train enough paediatric consultants with the required knowledge and skills, and to provide optimal care to the growing paediatric population of Guyana. It would be certified by the University of Guyana, and recognised by the Guyana Medical Council.
This programme is also intended to address the acute shortage of qualified paediatric consultants in Guyana, in order to meet the health needs of the paediatric population. It has been made possible through close collaborative efforts of Guyana’s Ministry of Health, the University of Guyana, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the Paediatric Associates of Canada. The latter has volunteered their and efforts to travel to Guyana and provide appropriate teaching as defined by the curriculum.
The programme would be taught in different clinical areas, including the paediatric ward, the NICU, and the paediatric out-patient clinics. Opportunities for rotations in many specialties, including research, as well as electives in Trinidad and Canada, would be available and encouraged.
The ultimate goal of this programme is to provide Guyanese doctors with the expertise and independence to make a positive influence on the well being of their paediatric patients. It is envisioned that, in time, these consultants would acquire the skills to administer the residence program, ensuring complete independence.
“We will continue to support the paediatric residency programme and neonatal nursing programmes. We want to also train our Guyanese paediatricians to be able to diagnose and treat illnesses that would previously have required treatment abroad, such as cancers and congenital heart diseases. We propose to expand the neonatal programme to the four regional hospitals: West Demerara, Linden, New Amsterdam and Suddie. We have already purchased all of the equipment for Linden and New Amsterdam, and we are awaiting the construction of the NICU. We will also be sending staff from NCH to do the training at the regional hospitals. Our ultimate goal is to develop a network of five NICUs linked by communication and transportation, to provide the most optimal care for our babies,” Singh revealed.
He is thankful for the full cooperation of the health minister, the CEO of GPHC Michael Khan, Dr Madan Rambaran, the director of the medical school, the matron of GPHC and the administrators of the regional hospitals. Additionally, he pointed out that there is a need to continue to develop partnerships with programmes in North America to facilitate the development of subspecialty paediatrics in Guyana, and is seeking continued financial support from donors to achieve the organisation’s goals.
For more information on this organisation and Dr Singh’s work in Guyana, log on to www.guyanahelpthekids.com