Minister Deyalsingh assures cataract surgery waiting list to be cleared

Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh interacts with cataract patients, Evelyn and Beulah Thompson, while Dr Anil Armoogum, head of the Ophthalmology Department of the South West Regional Health Authority, looks on. The minister was at the San Fernando General Hospital after a number of cataract surgeries were done as part of an initiative to clear the backlog of such cases. PHOTO BY VASHTI SINGH
Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh interacts with cataract patients, Evelyn and Beulah Thompson, while Dr Anil Armoogum, head of the Ophthalmology Department of the South West Regional Health Authority, looks on. The minister was at the San Fernando General Hospital after a number of cataract surgeries were done as part of an initiative to clear the backlog of such cases. PHOTO BY VASHTI SINGH

PATIENTS will no longer have to wait two to three years for cataract surgeries at public hospitals, assured Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, who promised that surgeries would be done within a reasonable time.

Speaking at the launch of the cataract surgery initiative yesterday, at the Urology Conference Room of the San Fernando General Hospital, the minister said already the waiting list has decreased.

“In challenging the regional health authorities with the national initiative, we cleared 1072. So, our waiting list is down from 4,308 to 3,236. If we continue with the rate of clearance, it will take us about three to six months to clear the backlog across the RHAs,” Deyalsingh said.

The minister said in October, he threw out the challenge to the RHAs to not only clear the backlog of surgeries but also ensure that a new backlog was not created.

He said the ministry was sourcing new equipment to distribute across the Regional Health Authorities.

“It is a mixture of having more equipment, more people, and some of these new machines will go down to Point Fortin. So, you now have in south two centres San Fernando and Point Fortin doing cataract surgeries. This is the grand plan to clear cataract surgeries,” Deyalsingh said.

Chief Executive Officer of the South-West Regional Health Authority, Gail Miller-Meade, and Head of the Ophthalmology Department Dr Anil Armoogum were at the launch.

Three cataract patients, who had surgery earlier in the morning, were also present and praised staff for their fast and friendly services.

Speaking to reporters, Deyalsingh acknowledged that as a healthcare delivery service, more resources were needed.

He, however, said the population had a role to play in accepting some responsibility for their own health.

“When the doctors and nurses tell you how many patients come to the A&E because they are off their medications. They get the medication free, but they simply do not take them. We all have a role to play. It is not only the government but the average citizen,” he added.

Commenting on the issue of the unavailability of medical supplies to patients in the public health sector, he noted that the last two years had the least of such complaints.

He also blamed suppliers, some of whom fail to fulfil their responsibilities. Due to the non-performance by the supplier, the ministry has to import the items at an increased cost, he said.

“Any supplier who does not fulfil their end of the bargain and we have to fly in the drugs. It is going to be billed into the tender that they have to pay that cost. A lot of the shortages has to do with the non-compliance of the suppliers. We are going to get very hard with the suppliers,” he said.

Armoogum spoke of the services offered at the SWRHA’s Ophthalmology Department which include emergency ophthalmic, and treatment of adnexal/lid, cataract, glaucoma and cornea and external diseases.

He provided statistics from the department, saying that from 2013 to 2016, the number of new patients accessing the clinic’s services increased by 80 percent. “We went from about 32,000 in 2013 up 40,000 in 2016. It is steadily increasing,” Armoogum said.

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