Region One (Barima- Waini) now has 52 health posts, alongside other health facilities, as efforts continue to expand healthcare access across the hinterland region.
Dr. Mitchel Pierre, the Regional Health Officer, said the healthcare system in the region has greatly improved over the last six years.
“We have a regional hospital [at] Mabaruma, three district hospitals and a cottage hospital, four health centres and 52 health posts across the region,” Dr. Pierre said in a video shared on President Irfaan Ali’s Facebook page.
Regional Executive Officer Dr. Steven Cheefoon said the expansion has been accompanied by improvements in maternal healthcare, including the continued operation of maternal waiting homes for women from communities far from major health facilities.
He said Region One has recorded no maternal deaths since the commencement of the maternal waiting homes programme for 2025.
“For 2025, we were awarded the most improved maternal care [at] Mabaruma Hospital. They 659 deliveries and all were alive births,” he said.
The programme allows pregnant women from remote communities to stay closer to health facilities ahead of delivery, reducing the need to make long and difficult journeys when labour begins.
More doctors are also in the region. While the region’s ability to maintain its medical supply-chain has been upgraded, using the CORTEX system, a centralised, real-time digital supply-chain platform introduced by the Ministry of Health.
“The CORTEX system ensures that every patient gets their medicine. It also guides me in that if we have a shortage of a drug, it could tell you that Hosororo may have this drug because they haven’t issued all of it so in the short term there’s a plan to fix the plan whilst there is a longterm plan to get it from Georgetown,” he said.
The system is intended to improve the management and availability of medicines and other medical supplies by giving health authorities greater visibility of inventory across facilities.
Cheefoon said the expansion of health posts and facilities, coupled with digital systems and maternal health interventions, is helping to improve access to healthcare for residents across Region One.
Source: NEW ROOMS SITE
