Foreign Medical Assistance in Guyana

UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 000511 SIPDIS WHA/PPC WHA/PDA WHA/CAR SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID MASS MOPS PREL SOCI TBIO KPAO GY SUBJECT: Foreign Medical Assistance in Guyana REF: Georgetown 455 - Making the USNS Comfort A Success ¶1. Embassy Georgetown is committed to working with the Department, the Pentagon, and Southcom to carry through successfully the President's mandate that the USNS Comfort's visit will aid "people who might not otherwise get the basic health care they need to realize a better tomorrow." The Guyanese public (and government) will measure the USNS Comfort's success against a standard for foreign medical assistance that has been set by the Cuban and Chinese medical brigades permanently stationed in Guyana as well as by numerous visiting U.S. and Canadian NGOs, universities, and church groups. As the Embassy, Southcom, Pentagon, and State Department work together to create the Public Diplomacy plan for the Comfort's visit to Guyana, we must take into consideration the current level of foreign medical assistance in Guyana. ¶2. Following is a summary of foreign medical assistance reported in the Guyanese press over the last four weeks: May 19: Fifteen doctors from the Cuban Medical Brigade donated blood in response to the Minister of Health's call for more people to join the voluntary blood donation campaign. The 62-person Cuban medical brigade in Guyana includes doctors, anesthesiologists, laboratory technicians, a bio-engineer, a cytologist and an epidemiologist. The Cuban doctors work in the capital, in regional hospitals, and some in remote hinterland areas. One Cuban doctor is in Paramakatoi, an indigenous community that is fifty miles from the nearest unpaved road. Note: In addition, Cuba has flown about 4000 Guyanese needing eye-care to Havana for free treatment and propaganda tours. The Cuban government also offers 500 free university seats to Guyanese students at medical and engineering faculties. Many of the students taking up these seats, like the daughter of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) Chief of Staff, profess a preference to study in the U.S., but cannot afford to do so without scholarships. End Note. May 17-19: Vice Governor of the Jiangsu Province, China, presided at the donation of US$85,000 worth of laparoscopic equipment to the Georgetown Public Hospital and turned the sod on a dormitory that will provide permanent housing on hospital grounds for the Chinese Medical Brigade. The Chinese Medical Brigade will train Guyanese doctors on use of the equipment. The Chinese have have been sending doctors at the consultant level to Guyana for two-year tours since ¶1992. The current Chinese Medical Brigade has 14 doctors stationed at the Georgetown Public Hospital and Linden Regional Hospital, including a general surgeon, ophthalmologist, acupuncturist, radiologist, anesthetist, plastic surgeon, obstetrician/ gynecologist, histopathologist, orthopedic surgeon and pediatrician. Four of seven doctors at the Linden Regional Hospital are Chinese (two are Guyanese, one is Cuban). May 16: Two U.S. NGOs, Guyana Medical Relief and Direct Relief International, donated US$2.3 million in medical supplies and equipment to the regional hospitals in New Amsterdam, Linden, Suddie, Bartica, Port Mourant, and Mahaicony. The NGOs make similar size donations to Guyanese hospitals about twice yearly. The NGOs made their last donation, of US$2 million in medical supplies, in November 2006. May 1: The Northeast Mission of Hope, a 30-member medical team including surgeons, doctors, and nurses who work at hospitals in New York and New Jersey worked at Mackenzie Hospital from April 30 through May 5. The team provided a range of general surgery services including thyroidectomy, removal of hernia and gall bladder, treatment of enlarged scrotum and prostrate sterilization procedures, emergency care procedures, treatment of sores and minor surgeries, continuing medical education on basic life support and lectures on HIV and AIDS awareness. April 29: The Dean of the Royal School of Dentistry donated US$2500 worth of textbooks to the Cheddi Jagan Dental Centre. April 28: USG funded NGO Youth Challenge Guyana will provide HIV/AIDS counseling and testing to 3000 persons in remote areas this year. April 21-22: During a six-day mission to Guyana, a four-person team from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, including an interventional cardiac electro-physiologist and an interventional pediatric cardiologist, screened 120 children with cardiac complications. They performed digital catheterizations on seven children and one adult with patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, and coarctation of the aorta. U.S. firm Amplatzer donated US$75,000 worth of devices used in the procedures. The University of Mississippi team will return in about six months. April 20: The Pan American Health Organization and European Union handed over US$200,000 worth of equipment to the Georgetown Public Hospital to boost maternal and child health care. The equipment included patient monitors, Doppler FHR detectors, phototherapy units, infant ventilators, endotracheal tubes, infant incubators, and computers. April 15 and 18: A Cuban staffed, state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment center will be opened at Diamond--south of Georgetown--in late May. Three other diagnostic and treatment centers are under construction at the Suddie, Leonora, and Mahaicony regional hospitals. The centers will each offer a range of services such as laboratory, intensive care, hematology, x-ray, and ultra-sound and will have the capacity to conduct surgery. In addition, an ophthalmology center is being built at Port Mourant Hospital. Each of the four diagnostic and treatment centers will be manned by 27 Cuban medical specialists and technicians; the ophthalmology centre will be staffed by 35 Cuban medical personnel. Round the clock services at all five facilities will be provided free of charge. The Cuban government agreed to staff the centers during President Jagdeo's February 2006 trip to Havana. ¶3. Although not mentioned in the press over the last month, Nigeria's Technical Aid Corp (TAC),on the ground in Guyana since 1990, has three OB/GYNs working in regional hospitals. India's K.M. Cherian, one of the world's leading cardiac surgeons, does free open heart surgeries on a dozen or two Guyanese children each year. U.S. and Canadian missionary medical missions routinely provide primary heath care for 800 to 4,000 patients to hinterland areas, mostly during the U.S. summer months. ¶4. Comment: Any service the Comfort provides will be appreciated by the people and government of Guyana, but the public diplomacy bar is high and we need to manage expectations carefully. ROBINSON