GUYANA, Georgetown 14 July 2023 - Dr. James Fitzgerald, Director of Health Systems and Services, visited Guyana from 10 to 14 July to review with the Ministry of Health the HSS areas of technical cooperation and to identify new areas of collaboration considering the ambitious health system expansion that is being implemented in Guyana.
Dr. James Fitzgerald, HSS Director, WDC met with Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health Guyana
Ministry of Health Staff
Ministry of Health Staff
On this visit the Ministry of Health (MOH), in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), hosted a one-day workshop on the Strategic Directions for Human Resources for Health Expansion in Guyana. Dr. Fitzgerald participated in the workshop, which focused on discussions of recent estimates prepared by PAHO on the future needs for human resources for health in Guyana, given the rapid health system expansion being implemented in the country. Guyana will build 14 new district, regional and national hospitals in the next 4 years. In addressing the technical staff from both the Ministry of Health and PAHO, Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health Guyana, stated that "the health sector is experiencing a great challenge with the recent expansion of the health system in terms of human resources that will be needed in the coming 4 years" Further, he added that retaining staff in the country is more difficult given recent trends in migration of nurses to more developed countries.
Dr. Frank Anthony in conversation with PAHO team
PAHO Team
Dr. Fitzgerald mentioned that renewed human resources for health policies will be needed to rebuild the health workforce and accommodate the transformation within the health sector. These include policies related to human resources governance, professional practice and education, professional regulation, capacity development, and improvement of working conditions to retain people in the workforce. >In addition, Dr. Fitzgerald participated in a PAHO Guyana Country Office meeting in which all technical areas presented the inter-programmatic work they have implemented since last year, as a mechanism to provide impactful technical cooperation to the country. During this meeting, the new Health Systems and Services organogram which identifies the new departmental structures and ways the organization expects to work collaboratively in future was shared with the PAHO Guyana Technical Staff.
Each technical unit had the opportunity to present its work, achievements, challenges, and the way forward in supporting the Ministry of Health in its quest to improve primary health care in the country. Dr. Fitzgerald commended the technical teams for this collaborative work, stressing the synergies being created between HSS, NCDs and disease elimination agendas at the Country Office, which is in line with the PAHO priorities recently proposed by Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director.
