Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that he believes that Guyana is not too poor a nation to achieve its goal of a 75 percent reduction in maternity deaths by 2015.
Speaking at the Advance in Labour and Risk Management (Alarm) international course on Obstetrician and Gynaecology workshop held at Cara Lodge last Friday, the health minister asserted, “I do not believe that when it comes to maternal child health care that a child born in Albion must be worse off than a child born in Canada.”
The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported that the objective of the workshop is to improve the health and status of women and their new born by advancing awareness and respect of sexual and reproductive rights of women among health care workers.
It also aims to increase the availability of competent and quality medical care by sensitizing health care workers to deliver quality maternal and new born care services.
The minister reiterated the administration’s commitment to this cause, noting that Guyana will definitely meet its own obligations, not because the United Nations has set standards for the country but because it recognises the importance and will confront the challenges.
According to GINA, an estimated 100 doctors and 300 midwives from across the country will benefit from the workshop which will continue until tomorrow.
The workshop is a collaborative effort among the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the Ministry of Health.
The workshop was attended on Friday by over 35 doctors, nurses and midwives from Guyana along with representatives from international organisations such as PAHO and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s medical health care system is expected to receive a boost this week as five surgeons who graduated from the post-graduate programme which was done by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will enter the medical team and be stationed in different regions in the country, GINA reported.
It stated also that work is being done to establish a post-graduate programme on obstetrics and gynaecology health care and Ramsammy said that he hopes this can be achieved sooner rather than later.
