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