A total of fifty-six patients benefited from the final surgical outreach for 2017 by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Mabaruma, the Department of Public Information (DPI) said yesterday.
The Region One residents were able to access free surgery in Obstetrics, Gynaecology, Orthopedics and General Surgery, DPI said.
On the weekend of October 7 and 8, the outreach team undertook the surgeries in the Mabaruma Regional Hospital’s main operating theatre. Regional Health Officer for Region One Dr Cerdel Mc Watt said, “Skilled personnel, consultants, and assistants have been gathered from all areas more so Georgetown hospital where you have Dr. Amir from surgery, Dr Jeffrey from Orthopedics… and we also have a doctor from the Diamond hospital covering OB/GYN.
Dr Mc Watt said that four interventions are usually conducted every year; however, for 2017, three have been successfully executed thus far. “It’s an ongoing event, we would have had two prior events where patients would be gathered from as far as Baramita, Matarkai sub-district, Arakaka, Matthews Ridge, Port Kaituma, and also Mabaruma sub-district as far as Barima, Koriabo and other areas, Moruca sub-district included.”
Dr Mc Watt said of all cases requiring surgeries most of these would be high-risk pregnancies requiring a Cesarean section (c-section). Some of these which would be considered emergency cases are usually referred to Georgetown while others arrived in time to also benefit from the outreach.
After surgery, the patients will be subjected to follow up visits.
“For follow-up care, we would not allow any patient to leave, Mabaruma, the central hospital, without being properly cared for or we wouldn’t have a favourable result after surgery. Doctor’s and other nurses would have been drawn from the various sub-districts who will engineer the follow-ups,” the RHO said.
These interventions are usually made possible by the Regional Health Service Department of the MoPH and the Regional Democratic Council. The Regional Health Officer then ensures that patients requiring surgeries are identified in a timely manner so that they can benefit from the outreach.
Recently, the Director of Regional Health Services, Dr Kay Shako pointed out that Region one more specifically the Mabaruma Regional Hospital will be staffed with the requisite surgical specialists before the end of the year.
This will reduce the need for surgical outreaches and conduct medevacs out of the region. Resulting in the retention of budgetary allocations which, in turn, could be used to improve the health services offered at facilities throughout the region.
