GPHC’s emergency wait time cut to one hour

The emergency department at the Georgetown Public Hospital is recording wait times of around one hour for most cases, with life-threatening emergencies prioritised for immediate attention. It is deemed among the fastest in the region, according to Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Zulfikar Bux. Dr. Bux recently told the News Room that the country’s premiere hospital, Georgetown Public Hospital’s wait time currently surpasses most facilities in the United States and is unrivaled across the Caribbean as a the result of more than a decade of protocolised care. “Our waiting time is currently one hour. It’s the best even in most places in the US and we have a very robust system that works that would’ve been over more than a decade of protocolised,” Dr. Bux said. According to Dr. Bux the improvement is the result of more than a decade of protocolised care and it is now the benchmark for what the Guyana Emergency Medical Authority intends to roll out nationwide. Under the authority, the treatment a patient receives at the Georgetown Public Hospital will be the same treatment expected at any regional hospital nationwide. Bux used heart attack care as a direct example the medications and protocols applied in Georgetown should be identical to those available at every regional facility. “If you go to Georgetown public hospital and you’re getting a heart attack, the medication and treatment you’re getting there, it is expected that you’ll get it at any one of the regional hospitals,” the doctor said. Head of the National Emergency Medical Services at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Dr. Zulfikar Bux Alongside the standardisation push, Guyana is moving to establish a national poison control centre, developed in collaboration with international partners, that will give members of the public access to a database of antidotes and medical information through the 913 emergency line. Trained personnel will identify possible causes of symptoms, advise on treatment, and assist in sourcing antidotes where needed. Snake bites and other venomous exposures will also be covered. The ambition, however, extends well beyond Guyana’s borders. Bux said the centre is being designed to serve as the emergency medical reference point for the entire Caribbean. “This should be the poison control centre that will be a reference for the entire Caribbean. Other countries can call in when they have possible exposure and get advice on what kind of antidotes work and even us helping to source it,” he said. He said the directive came directly from the Office of the President and it’s not just something he wants to do just for Guyanese but the wider Caribbean region. The 913 emergency line will also connect callers to ambulance services, with 25 new ambulances being deployed nationally. A $3.7 billion allocation is funding the overhaul and the command centre, ambulance fleet, staffing, medical equipment, and the communications infrastructure underpinning this new system.