ER Medical Team Cancels CWC Support Trip to Guyana

UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 000153

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - ADDED ADDRESSES

SIPDIS

WHA/EX - Michael Fortin
CA/OCS - Michelle Bernier-Toth
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD
CARACAS FOR DATT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AEMR CASC CMGT
SUBJECT: ER Medical Team Cancels CWC Support Trip to Guyana



1. The serious lack of adequate medical facilities, equipment and
trained medical staff in Guyana, especially for emergency care, is
one of Post's greatest concerns as crisis management preparations
are made for the upcoming Cricket World Cup (CWC) matches. A severe
nursing shortage across Guyana (most nurses emigrate soon after
finishing nursing school),means that medical facilities usually
operate with only a skeleton staff of overworked nurses. Ambulance
service is substandard, limited to transportation without any
medical care, and frequently not available for emergencies.


2. The best-equipped emergency room is at the Georgetown Public
Hospital (GPHC),whose staff and facilities are extremely limited.
On a recent visit by consular staff to the ER, the doctor manning
the ER stated that he was a recent graduate from the University of
Guyana's undergraduate medical sciences program. Not required to
complete a graduate degree or a residency, he started working at the
hospital soon after graduation. He confirmed that the ER frequently
operated only with one or two nurses and a quick look at the waiting
room showed numerous patients waiting for attention. Equipment in
the ER is basic. Any emergency during the CWC involving serious
injuries or multiple patients would clearly overburden the ER. The
ER sees essentially all trauma in Guyana which includes numerous car
crash victims, gunshot wounds and stabbings; these patients combined
with other acute care needs frequently overwhelm capacity in terms
of beds, ventilators, oxygen dispensing systems, and operating room
space under normal conditions. Blood is often unavailable or
available only after long delays.


3. Recognizing the severe lack of medical personnel and equipment,
Vanderbilt University (which has had a project with the GPHC ER
since 2002 to improve emergency medicine) planned to bring 38
physicians, nurses, and paramedics to augment the GPHC ER staffing
during the CWC. The team had planned on creating a special emergency
department that would be tasked with handling any casualties among
international visitors in particular. The team had been working with
the Ministry of Health to obtain funding for transportation and
housing and the Minister of Health had reportedly been scrambling to
secure this for the team, recognizing the importance of the
initiative. The embassy had been counting on this spectacular
resource while making disaster and contingency plans for the CWC.


4. Unfortunately, after months of planning, the Vanderbilt team has
been notified that the funding from MOH has fallen through. While
the team is still trying to find third party funding, and the
embassy has offered the team any assistance possible in working with
MOH or other entities to press for funding,
they are not optimistic that they will be able to do so at this late
date. The embassy is adjusting disaster plans to include the fact
that only basic medical care will be available to the thousands of
visitors expected for CWC.

ROBINSON