The first team of Cuban medical experts who will man the Diagnostic and Treatment Centre at Diamond, East Bank Demerara arrived yesterday.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) said Minister within the Ministry of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran met the 27-member team, the first group to arrive, at the airport. The team included orthopaedics, gynaecologists, ophthalmologists, dentists and bio-medical technician Raphael Dias Valdes. Dias will be tasked with repairing equipment at all of the centres and at the Ophthalmology Centre at Port Mourant, Berbice.

Under the Guyana/Cuba collaboration, which was signed between Presidents Bharrat Jagdeo and Fidel Castro during Jagdeo’s February 2006 visit to that country, the team at Diamond will be replaced after a five-year term. Other teams are expected to man the centres at Suddie, Leonora and Mahaicony. Ramsaran said these centres are nearing completion and the agreement also entails the construction of the $140M, state-of-the-art ophthalmology centre at Berbice. Guyanese medical personnel, many of whom are scholarship students in Cuba, are expected to take over the operations at the centres on their return.

Ramsaran said the centre at Diamond is likely to begin operations in time for the local Cricket World Cup matches but minor remodelling of electrical installations is needed to facilitate the testing of specialised equipment. He said the Intensive Care Unit at the centre is equipped with six beds and the building also boasts an observation area. The Diamond centre is a new building, Ramsaran said, whereas the other centres were constructed alongside existing hospitals that were upgraded to complement their services. Each centre will provide general surgeries as well as orthopaedic, gynaecological and ophthalmologic care as well as dentistry, x-ray and ultrasound services and consultations.

GINA said the Diamond centre will have the capacity to treat about 10,000 patients annually and is expected to cater for patients from neighbouring Venezuela, Suriname and the Caribbean. A team of about 38 Cuban doctors is expected to man this facility.