Only digital x-ray machines must be in public health system – Dr Anthony

Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony has revealed that the government has taken a decision to ensure that only digital x-ray machines are available in the public health system across the country.

He noted that up to four years ago, there was a combination of digital and analogue machines.

“No longer should we be trying to wash films and then holding it up to the light and that sort of thing, because in some ways, that’s not very useful,” the Health Minister said during an event on Wednesday.

“And when you are using analogue systems, sometimes if you don’t get the right image, you have to go back, call back the patient, and a whole host of things,” he added.

With the new digital systems that the government has been introducing, the Health Minister noted that “we can take the image, we can enhance these images, and we can look for different things that we need to try to visualise so that we can make better diagnosis for those patients.”

The digital x-ray machines that are installed across the country are manufactured by world-class companies Siemens, GE, and Philips.

“So, these are the three major brands that we’re using. And as you would recognize by those names, they are among the top brands globally,” Dr Anthony was keen to point out.

Over the weekend, the Health Ministry commissioned a state-of-the-art $60 million GE digital x-ray system at the Kumaka District Hospital. Dr Anthony said in the next few months, the government plans to install 14 additional systems across the country.

They are being installed at facilities in Port Kaituma, Charity, Leonora, Leguan, Bartica, Mahdia, and villages in Regions Nine and Ten.

“So, in a matter of months, we’ll have at least 14 new digital x-rays, that would be operational,” the minister noted.

The government is also installing at least four new MRI machines in the public health system, Dr Anthony noted. “We’ll be putting an MRI at the new Paediatric Hospital in Ogle, one at New Amsterdam, and one at West Demerara. And Georgetown Hospital is in the process of also putting in an MRI,” he explained.