Several health centres across the West Coast of Demerara have been facing significant drug shortages for the past month thus causing some to worry they would have to purchase basic medications.
The issue started at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) and continued as a trend at the Leonora Cottage Hospital and the Meten-Meer-Zorg Health Centre.
According to information reaching INews, many individuals, primarily senior citizens, were diagnosed with their respective illnesses and were forced to leave without any medication.
“We have people coming in here and we having Panadol to give them. Old people who need medications are being turned away, because we can tell them what’s wrong, but we can’t really help them, because they need the drugs,” a medical professional related.
He explained that this matter was of concern, since some rural families depended on public healthcare.
Meanwhile, other patients shared similar sentiments on Tuesday about other services being provided at the Leonora Cottage Hospital and also hinted that the Hospital lacked medical personnel to attend to patients.
Adding to that, accident victims are usually transferred to the WDRH during the night owing to a lack of doctors.
Last year, doctors and nurses at the Skeldon Hospital staged a sit-in and refused to see patients given a shortage of drugs and lack of basic equipment for them to carry out their duties.
Since they had no tools to down, the staff at the Accident and Emergency Unit simply refused to see patients who turned up at the facility.
During that same period, workers at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) downed their tools, staging a three-hour sit-in as a result of the same issue. Immediate intervention was sought by contacting the Public Health Ministry to temporarily dispatch some drugs.
