The Ministry of Health has already begun training to create its own specialised pool of physicians who will be more equipped to address specific areas of medicine.
This was disclosed by Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, during a recent interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA).
The Minister said that Guyana will be training its own home-grown pool of medical experts to strengthen the existing human resource and healthcare infrastructure.
He noted that the training of 500 Guyanese, which began in 2006 and will come to an end next year, will produce a large group of doctors to strengthen the primary healthcare system.

This, he said, will create the ‘play-dough’ out of which Guyana can create its national pool of specialists.
Minister Ramsaran added that the 301 doctors expected to return next year will also serve to adequately populate the state-of-the-art hospitals being built across the country.
Through an expanded agreement, Cubans doctors have had a strong presence in the local healthcare system and have given Guyana the elbow room to develop its own physicians.
“As it is now, Guyana depends predominantly on foreigners to provide specialist services in the area of medicine from China, India, Cuba etc. We are gradually creating our own capacity; that is persons who are not only graduate doctors but who have gone on to do post graduate studies. This gives Guyana the opportunity to expand on its programmes,” the Health Minister said.

Through the efforts of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), government has started training in a modest way with the introduction of the post-graduate courses in General Surgery.
“One batch of doctors has already graduated and we are in the course of training a second batch facilitated by a strong cooperation through the Georgetown Hospital and a Canadian University.”

Minister Ramsaran said that a similar programme in Orthopedic Surgery and other such programmes at the post graduate level are also being introduced with the aim of producing home-grown, internationally acceptable experts. The Ministry is also hoping to introduce courses in the area of Family Medicine as early as September. “Cuba has given us 20 more doctors to add to the 40 that are already here. This gives us the material from which we can create a dedicated, quality, specialist pool.”

Over the past few years, the administration has been dispatching to Cuba for training, hundreds of young Guyanese students.
Many have already returned as graduate doctors and are serving in various healthcare facilities across the country.
Last July, 66 doctors graduated and were inducted into various hospitals on the coast with the aim of equipping them with experience in the local healthcare system. (GINA)

Article taken from: www.kaieteurnewsonline.com

Wow, I wonder if I can trust this governemnt to decide who will be a specialist or not, I would not trust them with my dog muchless to give them the power to make up this very important list that can mean life or death to unsuspecting patients. Bryan Mackintosh