The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Saturday received medical equipment to the tune of US$125, 000 from Northwell Health, New York to boost its operations.
Northwell Health is a non-profit integrated healthcare network, and is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, M.P, said the much-needed equipment will be used in the pathology department, and will allow for better services and timely diagnosis of illnesses.
“I can assure you we’ll make sure that it’s put to good use, the microscopes that we spoke about earlier that’s a very needed piece of equipment because a lot of times when specimens go to the pathology department, they are not able to process these things as quickly as possible.”
“And our cancer registry which we have developed some time ago, many times the classification of these specimens are not done properly so this is going to change the way that we make this diagnosis,” the minister said.
Dr. Anthony also reiterated His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s vision of having a world class healthcare system. He said it is therefore important “in this new era of health sector development” to also have world class partnerships.
The minister noted that Guyana’s partnership with Northwell Health is a “two-way relationship” as Guyana can benefit from the services provided by Northwell Health and that organisation can benefit from the commendable primary healthcare system here in Guyana.
Director of Global Health- Northwell Health, Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena during the handing over ceremony said he is hopeful that Northwell Health can set the standard for a good partnership in Guyana.
“I’m very excited that this is the first supply shipment that we’re able to help GPHC coordinate, that will help to boost service… We hope that we set a standard for partnership in Guyana for 2022, that this is the level we expect partners to act with the level of respect, mutual exchange of information and support,” Dr. Cioe-Pena said.
Meanwhile, Ministerial Advisor, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, said building partnerships with international entities is the fastest way of improving the local health sector.
Also attending the simple ceremony were Acting Chief Executive Officer of GPHC, Mr. Robbie Rambarran, Consultant of the Pathology Department at GPHC, Dr. Nancy Sitchao and other officials of Northwell Health and GPHC.