A three-year Radiology Residency programme is slated to commence in September.
Information about this development was yesterday released by the Ministry of Public Health.
The venture will be fast-tracked with support from United States-based charitable organization – RAD-AID International.
RAD-AID is an international aid organization focused on increasing and improving radiology for poor and developing countries.
The organization has committed to working with the Public Health Ministry to develop radiology services in Guyana with the first major step being the introduction of the aforementioned programme.
On Monday, team members of the charitable organization met with Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton, to discuss the way forward.
Also present at that meeting was Head of the Accident and Emergency Unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Dr. Zulfikar Bux. It was Dr. Bux who initiated the collaboration with the organization, since it is his belief that radiology services in Guyana are not as developed as they should be.
RAD-AID is a group comprising radiologists, technologists, nurses, and other supportive staff who work in radiology, and are dedicated to improving radiology services in developing countries.
Director of RAD-AID Latin America, Dr. Gillian Battino, said that the charity’s goal in Guyana is to improve radiology services by bringing Guyana up to speed with what is available, in order to improve health outcomes.
Dr. Battino noted, though, that the most important step in developing these services is the development of the three-year Radiology Residency programme in Guyana.
“There are other examples of programmes that are built between a US institution and the Georgetown Public Hospital, and we’re mimicking that, so there are internal medicines, emergency medicine, obstetrics, and now we will add radiology to that, so that Guyanese doctors are trained to work in Guyana as radiologists,” she explained.
Dr. Battino highlighted that Guyana needs approximately 80 radiologists to serve the population and three persons will be trained each year during the three-year residency.
“We plan to utilize the educational system in place at the residency programme in the States and to have the residents spend three to six months in the States to get a foundation and then do the rest of the training in Guyana, with US physicians coming to Guyana to train,” she stated.
She said that the idea is to build a sustainable programme which will continue for as long as possible. Their work in Guyana, she noted, is not limited to physician training, since they also plan to improve nurses training, with attention to radiology and technology.
According to the Director, improving the technology available to perform radiology procedures by adding electronic storage for x-rays, which will include reporting systems, is a major part of their efforts in Guyana. She said too that they hope to put a system in place where an x-ray can be obtained in Bartica and read in Georgetown, using the internet.
RAD-AID International will be donating an ultra sound machine to the Emergency Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital. The Charity also received four CT scanners from Phillips Corporation and will be handing over two of them to Guyana, with the remaining two going to Haiti.
The two CT Scanners, which are valued at US$200,000 each, will be placed at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) and the Bartica Regional Hospital in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
Minister Norton thanked the team for their efforts and told them that he is looking forward to their support in the future. He was especially happy about the residency programme, since he is a strong advocate for Continuing Medical Education. (Kaieteur News)
