Health Ministry to give CHI subvention for emergency procedures

An agreement between the Ministry of Public Health and the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) is currently being finalized that will allow for CHI to become eligible for a subvention. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Public Health Saturday, the subvention is intended to cover costs incurred by CHI for emergency procedures.

CHI, according to information from the Ministry, has recorded an average of 15 cardiac procedures per month ever since the establishment of the Catherisation Laboratory (Cath Lab) last May. The cardiac catherisation machine, the Ministry has asserted, was procured by the Ministry of Public Health and has been fully functional thereby serving the cardiac needs of the Guyanese population. It was emphasized that the Lab is not only the largest but the most advanced of any such laboratory in all of the Caribbean. The CHI Lab has been catering to procedures such as cardiac catherisation and the insertion of cardiac stents, pacemakers, defibrillators and heart valve through the groin. All the procedures, the Ministry’s statement said, were performed by Dr. Mahendra Carpen, CHI’s Resident Cardiologist. It was also noted that the establishment of CHI has taken cardiac health care to another level since it opened its doors in 2006 at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as a public-private partnership. The Ministry sought to highlight that cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally with an estimated 17.5 million people dying in 2012. This, it was noted, represents 31 per cent of all global deaths with over three quarters of cardiovascular diseases occurring in low and middle income countries. With the introduction of CHI, the Ministry’s statement highlighted that Guyana has since recorded a reduction in the need for open heart surgeries. The Ministry’s statement comes on the heels of recently published information from the Auditor General Report of the fiscal year ended 2015 which was laid in Parliament on Thursday October 13, 2016. (Kaieteurnews.com)