GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – With Guyana’s health sector on the verge of transformation, the country is aiming to become the premier reference centre for the Caribbean regions. To contribute to this, the country has since been adapting to modern technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance the delivery of services for its patients.
This is according to minister of health, Dr Frank Anthony who highlighted that his ministry has been making major strides to eliminate chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and other infectious diseases. The ministry is working aggressively to develop services that are centered around digital medicine.
“By the end of this year, we will have a very comprehensive strategy as it relates to digital health. In collaboration with the office of the prime minister, we intend to connect all our health facilities with Starlink,” the minister stated, speaking during the 33rd Caribbean Nurses Organisation Biennial Conference last Tuesday held at police officers’ Mess, Eve Leary.
Minister Anthony said that the health ministry has been exploiting the use of technology to introduce teleophthalmology and telepathology. The Telepathology Laboratory at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has managed to increase the results time for biopsy samples from three months to three days.
Telemedicine has also been reaping major success, allowing a wider overall of the country’s health sector has been able to build its laboratory capacity.
“We can do the sequencing of various viruses. We can say what variants of COVID and other viruses are circulating. So, we are working to become a reference centre for the rest of the region,” the health minister noted.
Additionally, in terms of infrastructure, minister Anthony disclosed that by March 2025 the first six modern hospitals will be opened. Currently, 14 new hospitals are being built across the country.
When these hospitals are completed, the health minister said that the services will not only be for the Guyanese population, but for the wider Caribbean diaspora as well.