Health Minister proposes National Laboratory Strategy to address gaps in healthcare delivery
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony is advocating for a National Laboratory Strategy which aims to identify gaps in equipment and services at health agencies across Guyana and address them in a timely manner.
Minister Anthony on Tuesday opened the ongoing three-day conference for the Regional Health Officers (RHO's) from the 10 administrative regions across Guyana at the Grand Coastal Hotel.
In his feature address, the Minister urged the RHOs to be more proactive especially in managing infrastructure projects within the various parts of the regions, and when procuring equipment.
He advocated for a Laboratory Strategy to be utilised at both a regional and national level when offering healthcare services.
"We can develop a National Laboratory Strategy which will indicate what we should offer nationally and what we should offer in each region, and how we'll offer them. Based on this, we'll know what equipment needs to be purchased and what are the gaps in the regions, and if we have overcapacity in the region we'll know how to deal with them.”
He explained that appropriate equipment should be purchased for facilities in which they will be suitable and sustainable, and when they are received, a maintenance plan should be implemented to ensure that they are being serviced promptly.
Minister Anthony went on to emphasise the need for appropriate programmes and activities to be implemented to advocate and raise awareness against diseases to impact behaviour change.
"If we take cervical cancer, for instance, this is something preventable but how many regions have a comprehensive program to do HPV vaccination? How are we going to make an impact on cervical cancer if we are not integrating HPV vaccination in the services provided.”
This conference will see the RHO's discussing various approaches between the Ministry of Health and its health care partners to effectively and efficiently deliver health care services across Guyana, as well as discuss challenges RHOs are currently facing.
Dr Anthony also mentioned that soon the Ministry will be implementing a Physician Leadership Programme where physicians can offer leadership, along with Electronic Health Records that will aid in better serving health care services throughout Guyana.
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