New mammogram machines to arrive next month – Health Minister
Kaieteur News – Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony on Friday announced that four mammogram machines are expected to arrive in Guyana in July. The machines are aimed at boosting the ministry’s ability to provide adequate resources to screen for breast cancer.
The minister made the announcement during the launch of the cervical cancer screening programme which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
“So in women, cervical cancer is the number two, but breast cancer is number one. And again, we have to make sure that there is affordable mammograms. And so in July of this year, in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency, they’re donating to us four mammogram machines,” the minister disclosed.
When arrived, he noted that these machines would be installed at four hospitals, namely the West Demerara Regional Hospital, Linden Hospital Complex, the New Amsterdam Hospital and the Lethem Hospital.
“The machines are on the way to Guyana and once we get them, we’ll install them. One of the things that we have decided in the government is that we want to have good quality equipment. And so we have been converting our X rays (machines) and so forth and to well-known establish leaders in these fields like Siemens and GE and Philips and for these mammograms, all of them are made by Siemens, which would be the highest quality or among the highest quality of equipment that you can have,” Dr. Anthony asserted.
When installed, the minister said that the ministry would be updating the public as to age group and how persons can get screened.
Last September, the Health Minister said that the only public institution offering mammography is the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). He was at the time speaking at a ‘GTT Pinktober’ event.
