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FM
Former Member

19 children, young adults benefit from successful heart surgeries at GPHC

Written by , Published in News, Georgetown, GINA, May 07, 2015, Source

 

Thus far 19 children and young adults ranging from nine months to 21 years have benefited from heart surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), through collaborative efforts by the Ministry of Health with support from International Children’s Heart Foundation commonly known as Baby Heart.

 

 First Lady Deolachmee Ramotar sharing a light moment with Dr. Rodrigo Soto, Chief Executive Officer of Baby Heart Foundation

First Lady Deolachmee Ramotar sharing a light moment with Dr. Rodrigo Soto, Chief Executive Officer of Baby Heart Foundation

 

Most of the surgeries done were on children. Six others received catheterization for clinical cardiac conditions.

 

The Baby Heart Foundation is a non-profit organisation which expands its reach worldwide through travel, to assist in paediatric cardiac surgeries while at the same time build capacity among the local health practitioners in this regard.

 

During an update at the Cara Lodge, this evening, Dr. Rodrigo Soto, Chief Executive Officer of Baby Heart Foundation said that the experience has been fantastic thus far, and he feels honoured to have been part of this undertaking.

 

He also expressed gratitude to the Government of Guyana for allowing the organisation to develop its programme here, while pointing out that they are willing to make two or three visits per year to conduct such surgeries.

 

Further, he noted with all the work that has been done locally, in the near future Guyana can become the reference center of the region where paediatric surgeries are concerned.

 

A special Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was refurbished at the GPHC to facilitate post-surgery care for the children, and Baby Heart Foundation donated some amount of equipment and medication for the unit.

 

Meanwhile, Director of the Echocardiography Education Programme at the GPHC, Dr. Debra Isaac said that when the programme first started it was realised that children accounted for almost 40% of the heart ultrasounds that were done, and many required surgery. She added that after realising this, she became “almost desperate to get help for these kids”.

 

Dr. Isaac reiterated that the team which consists of 18 members, both local and international health care providers, has given beautiful memories to the families and the children themselves during the time they spent with them.

 

First Lady Deolachmee Ramotar along with members of the medical team who have been performing pediatric heart surgeries at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation

 

Prior to these interventions children were sent abroad for surgeries and did not benefit from proper follow-up care. However, with the help of the Health Ministry and Dr Marissa Seepersaud, paediatric surgeon at the GPHC, a Guyana Paediatric Steering Committee was established with the aim of indentifying children that need surgery, and institute screening for others.

 

Dr. Seepersaud expressed gratitude to the team for the work they have done and that too for a fraction of the cost. She added that there were some small challenges, but the team managed to overcome them.

 

In addition, Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Health Ministry, Leslie Cadogan expressed gratitude to the team as he congratulated them on a job well done.

 

Also at the event this evening was First Lady Deolachmee Ramotar who congratulated GPHC on their timely preparation for the surgeries and also thanked and congratulated the team for their work.

 

The Foundation has been in existence for over 20 years and has successfully completed 7,500 surgeries in 32 countries. The team care providers will be returning to Guyana in July to conduct more such surgeries.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Gawd bless dem white people dem too bad it won't help PPP with the elections.

 

You think dem white people wouldn't be helping if it weren't for PPP, hehehehehe...it doan wuk dat way.

cain
Last edited by cain

You is just as vulgar as the PNC women that showing their private in public. This thread is about medical benefit for children and you plastering it with picture with the African Gods you worship. You have no frigging manners or respect for sick kids. 

FM
Originally Posted by Cobra:

Congratulation again to the team of doctors and staff that put smiles to 19 children and young adults. God bless them all.

Indeed a wonderful occasion for these children plus others to follow in time.

FM
Originally Posted by Demerara_Guy:
 

Indeed a wonderful occasion for these children plus others to follow in time.

Many dead babies at GPHC’s morgue are unclaimed – Hospital

May 8, 2015 | By | Filed Under News 

The startling number of dead babies stored at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) morgue has been linked to relatives failing to retrieve the remains or opting to do so at a late date.

Father of the dead baby Roger Smith

Father of the dead baby Roger Smith

But according to Government Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh, while there is currently a high number of babies at the hospital; the situation is not one that developed overnight. “People are always claiming that they are coming for it (dead babies) and the hospital cannot bury the body if they (say) they are coming for it,” asserted Dr Singh. This state of affairs was also confirmed by Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Khan, who reiterated that the hospital has for some time been dealing with the overcrowding situation, since some families have not been claiming remains. This publication first highlighted the overcrowding state of affairs at the GPHC’s morgue in its Thursday’s Edition. According to Roger Smith, a father who claimed that his dead baby was misplaced in the morgue, he visited the public hospital on Wednesday to retrieve the body of his child but workers there were unable to honour his request. But according to Dr Singh, although the morgue workers had stopped off to attend to a body that is involved in an ongoing police matter, they however eventually located the man’s child. According to Smith, his eight day- old -son was born at the West Demerara Regional Hospital but two days later he was transferred to the Georgetown Hospital. The child, the man informed, was diagnosed with jaundice. Smith related that his baby was administered what he believes was antibiotics “or something like that” but based on his observation his child’s condition got worse. “He was placed on oxygen then he was placed on life support, eventually he succumbed,” said Smith. He is suspicious about his child’s demise. “This thing with jaundice and the baby dying is kinda weird,” he said. The man related that while at the hospital’s morgue “I see like four to five drawers with babies, like 20 babies in a drawer…all just thrown in like that, like pieces of meat, no tags, no nothing, no records properly.” “They keep pulling out baby after baby looking for (the baby’s) sex and I see a whole set of babies wrapped up with no tag just tossed and thrown in,” added Smith. According to him, he waited for two and a half hours while morgue workers searched but failed to locate his dead child. “I don’t know what’s going on; these people are sick,” asserted Smith as he recalled how the morgue workers stopped off searching for his son to attend to the parents of at least two other dead babies but were also unable to locate those. Other parents at the morgue on Wednesday were too emotional to share their concerns. “They are not finding babies, right now is just adults (bodies) they finding,” observed Smith who added, that the explanation given by the morgue workers for their inability to locate the remains of the babies is that “the man who is supposed to know is not around.” However, the hospital in a statement issued yesterday expressed dissatisfaction with the article published by this newspaper and even labeled it as “deliberately misleading.” But the hospital’s statement reflected a clear lack of communication between the Public Relations Department, and that of the office of the CEO as this publication had made contact with Mr. Khan who acknowledged the state of affairs but was not in a position on Wednesday to give a formal response. Although the hospital’s Public Relations Department sought to emphasise that Smith’s baby was located, no effort was made to admit that it was after a few hours. The hospital also sought to label as “untrue” claims that dead babies in the morgue are untagged pointing out that “bodies are always tagged so deceased persons can be easily identified.” It was underscored too that “currently there are a number of dead babies at the hospital morgue; as families sometimes refuse to collect the bodies. In these instances, the hospital cannot bury the bodies until a certain amount of time has elapsed and it is determined that the families will not take on burial responsibilities. “This is since burying someone whose family turns up to uplift their body can put the hospital in serious hot water,” added the statement. The hospital has claimed too, that thus far for the year it has facilitated 17 burials.

Mitwah

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