Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran has said that Caribbean nationals undergoing training in medicine will be expected to complete their final year of tutelage here as plans are in train to make Guyana a ‘hub’ for the Region.
He was speaking at the recent 10th Scientific Conference by the Cuban Medical Brigade at the Grand Coastal Inn.
Participants at the meeting who included Cuban doctors, nurses, technicians and administrators along with the heads of local health organs, also heard that Guyana would use the 170 Cuban nurses, doctors, technicians and administrators to create a “hub” for the training of Caribbean nationals.
“It has positioned Guyana to become a hub for the Caribbean. We now have Caribbean nationals, who were trained in Cuba, wanting to come to Guyana to complete their sixth year. We have actually opened the doors to that in a structured manner,” Dr Ramsaran said, according to a report from the Government Information Agency (GINA).
Two Barbadian students have already taken advantage of the opportunity and there are many other applicants, the minister said. He also said that Guyana’s hospitals would be opening their doors to Cuba-trained doctors from other Caribbean countries to allow them to practise the first year of internship alongside their Cuban professors. The minister also revealed that Guyana plans to eventually scale back its dependence on Cuban, Chinese and Indian specialists, as it would soon have a number of Cuba-trained local doctors pursuing post-graduate studies in areas such as surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, disability and rehabilitation, paediatrics and psychiatry. Most of the other areas of specialisation would require infrastructure such as imaging and laboratories, he said, noting that the immediate emphasis would be on training mental health specialists in psychiatry and psychology.
To date, 10 Cuba-trained local doctors have been identified to pursue training in this area by Cuba-trained Psychiatrist Dr Bhiro Harry who is the head of the Psychia-tric Department. Dr Harry then outlined ways in which mental disorders would be addressed in Guyana, pointing out that funds must be budgeted for new centres and personnel to cater to these conditions. According to Dr Ramsaran, Guyana would be reducing its number of Cuban nurses and replacing them with specialists in several areas.
With the pool of Cuban professionals here, he hoped that Guyana would create a “solid base for research.” “The Guyanese research agenda especially in health is weak because we didn’t have that cadre, that national pool of intelligentsia in the health sector to push it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cuban Ambassador to Guyana, Julio Gonzalez Marchante lauded Guyana for being one of the first countries to break the blockade against Cuba and commended the fertile relations between the two countries. The ambassador then stressed the need for research by doctors and the importance of the conference towards the participants work in Guyana.
