As part of efforts to provide support during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has provided vouchers to 22 mothers with children born with microcephaly.
The vouchers, each worth $20,000, can be en-chased at any of the Bounty Supermarkets countrywide.
In a press release issued yesterday, the Ministry explained that it has consistently offered support to the mothers, who between 2016 and 2018 gave birth to a child with the rare neurological condition.
Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Officer Dr Oneka Scott is quoted as stating during the handing over ceremony that majority of Guyanese born with the disorder have a severe form which affected brain development and results in the need for constant care.
“We realise that these children will not meet normal developmental milestones…Feeding themselves is not an option, bathing is not an option, indicating to their parents when they want to fulfil a physiological need like using the bathroom or eating is not an option, hence these children require (constant) special care and special attention,” she explained, while adding that providing this care can be taxing and has led to several mothers leaving their jobs to stay at home.
Scott also reminded that the MoPH has been providing financial assistance to these mothers – especially for those living outside the capital city – to have their regular medical check-ups.
“Every three months they are required to go to the ophthalmologist, they need to go to audiology and they need to see the neurologist maybe twice a year. They are also required to do physiotherapy weekly depending on the severity of their condition”, she detailed.
Additionally through a collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection’s Social Assistance Programme, the families have over the last 18 months received a special monthly financial package of $18,000 ($9,000 for the child and $9,000 for the mother).
The children also benefitted from tumble-form chairs through collaborations with the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF); monthly pampers through the Ministry of Education (MoE) Support Programme and a from the MoPH’s monthly milk-feeding programme.
Permanent Secretary (PS) of the MoPH Collette Adams, speaking at the handing over, emphasised that the ministry is always eager to provide quality health care especially to children with special needs.
“The health of the people is the business of the Ministry of Public Health… so it’s always our honour and pleasure to ensure that every Guyanese is being treated equally and have equal access to health care” Adams stated.
The efforts were welcomed by the beneficiaries with Davie Hussein, mother of three-year-old Veena, expressing her gratitude.
She explained that the support received is a welcome supplement of her husband’s earnings.
“I am very thankful for it and whenever I pray I always thank God for them because it ease me of the having to buy milk every month…and to buy her pampers” Hussein said.
A child born with Microcephaly has a smaller than normal head. Specialists have explained that the condition can occur because a baby’s brain has not developed properly during pregnancy or has stopped growing after birth.
The disorder became prevalent following the spread of the Zika virus in 2016.
