– some departments relocated
Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has declared that his ministry is operational despite the fire that completely gutted its main building and an annex at Brickdam early yesterday morning.
“We at the Ministry of Health refuse to give in to this disaster whether created by accident or design and we will not be put in a position where the ministry cannot provide services,” Ramsammy said.
Shortly after he had assessed the ruins at the ministry and held discussions with his staff Ramsammy held a press briefing at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) to inform the public that the ministry’s services are in place and still functional.
Departments within the ministry have already been relocated, some shifted to locations outside the Brickdam compound and others being accommodated in the other buildings that were saved at that location.
Ramsammy called the fire a national crisis saying that it affects the entire country. He noted that the services of the Ministry of Health are open to anyone, “rich and poor alike, every ethnic group, religious group and anyone occupying Guyanese space”.
He continued that whenever there is a crisis in the country the ministry has shown that it has the capacity to respond, and that it would continue to do so even now.
Speaking to the commitment and strength of his staff, Ramsammy said that nurses scheduled to travel to Timehri for a vaccination drive were on location at 8 am yesterday. He said too that persons who turned up for cremation certificates also were able to collect as promised yesterday and can now go ahead with cremation preparations.
Ramsammy disclosed that Adolescent Health was now being housed at NAPS, while the Personnel Division was moved to the ministry’s health division at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
The offices of Minister within the Ministry, Dr Bheri Ramsaran; Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Shamdeo Persaud and Permanent Secretary, Hydar Ally have all been relocated to an annex building in compound of the ministry which was spared.
Ramsammy has not yet set aside office space for himself and said he was in no rush to do so as his focus was on ensuring that his staff are all placed and he was likely to find an office at some point.
The Accounts Department, which he referred to as critical, is currently in the process of moving also. Ramsammy also noted that the Standards Department has been moved to the National Blood Transfusion Service building at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Stressing that no service offered by the ministry would be interrupted Ramsammy yesterday appealed to persons who have applied for training programmes such as the nursing programme to make contact with the ministry. Though their records (applications) have all been lost, he said the ministry is ready to start working with interested persons. He said the process for selection would be different, but the ministry was pressing ahead with the training.
He said too that persons who applied for medical assistance should contact the ministry because their records have also been lost. However, he said the ministry had already committed to helping them and that it remains committed.
Records saved
Though much of the records have been destroyed in the fire, some were on a back-up system and can be retrieved. Ramsammy made this disclosure yesterday saying that all is not lost.
He said the Personnel Division is one of the main sections that had started to computerize its records, but that the process was incomplete. Ramsammy said that records from the Accounts Department are in the system at the Finance Ministry.
Ramsammy stated that many of the epidemiology statistics have been fairly well preserved, and pointed out that records lost at the Central Health Board would take some time to recreate.
The records at the Registry had included those from the medical and nursing councils, which are retrievable since the records are also maintained by both councils.
But the minister pointed out that many important documents which the staff had worked hard to create have been lost. He said that these were documents in the developmental stages and for which there are “no copies out there”.
As of now, the minister said, the current focus of the ministry is on normalizing services by Monday. He said that the staff will work throughout the weekend to make sure that things are in place.
“This morning we met and tried to figure out [a way forward] since the activity of the ministry has to continue as if nothing is wrong and figure out how to provide services to the public,” he stated.
Ramsammy said the ministry will rise again. He declared that a modern ministry would rise out of “those ashes” and change the landscape of Brickdam.
