Agricola health centre operating without pharmacist

- suspected chikungunya cases being referred to GPH for medication

Patients visiting the Agricola Health Centre with clinical signs of chikungunya are being referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) because the centre has no pharmacist on staff to prescribe medication to treat the symptoms.

A source at the health centre yesterday told Stabroek News that health workers were seeing patients everyday with symptoms of the virus but were unable to treat them because there was no pharmacist on hand to prescribe medication. The health centre has been without a pharmacist for the past two weeks.

“No one has replaced the other one and when patients come they get angry and complain that they have to travel to Georgetown Public Hospital to get the tablets,” the source said.

She said many times the Diamond Diagnostic Centre would send patients to the health centre for treatment but then they would in turn have to refer the patients to the Georgetown Public Hospital. She stated that the absence of a pharmacist is placing a tremendous strain on the centre because it is serving seven villages along the East Bank of Demerara, with a population of 10,000 children in schools.

“Right now we are working without a pharmacist and a medic. Patients come here with symptoms of chikungunya but we can’t do anything but refer them to Georgetown,” she said, while noting that they would advise those patients about the virus and what precautionary measures they can adopt in their homes.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday said Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran provides regular reports on chikungunya and has noticed the “notion of increases.” He said the suspected incidences of the disease have been noticeably increasing but the test results of samples sent for analysis have in no way “gotten a surge as the symptomatic cases have.”

However, the Associated Press, recently released information that Guyana has registered more than 1,000 cases of chikungunya, with several clinics reporting about 60 new cases daily. Stabroek News had visited the office of Chief Medical Officer Shamdeo Persaud for a comment on this new information but was told he was not available.

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has recorded nearly 10,972 confirmed cases of chikungunya with 1,433 cases from 20 CARPHA member states and 9,539 cases from 11 other territories.

Chikungunya causes severe joint and muscle pains, sudden high fever, headaches and rashes.

The disease is much similar to dengue fever and symptoms usually manifest between four to seven days after a bite from an infected mosquito. They last for three to 10 days. Persons are asked to use insect repellents and wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants in order to avoid mosquito bites. They are also advised to sleep under mosquito nets and keep their surroundings clean so as to prevent the vector from breeding.