Guyana
Population, (2017): 777,859
Income per Capita, (2018): 3871.39 US
Percentage of GDP on healthcare, (2015): 4.48%
training
Year Family Medicine was Established: 2015 (Ponka, 2018)
Length of Medical School: 5 years (Ponka, 2018)
Length of Training Program: 3 years (Ponka, 2018)
Type of Training: Residency
Number of Institutions That Offer Family Medicine Training: 1 institution (Ponka, 2018)
Number of Trainees: 6 spots each year (Ponka, 2018)
practice
Number of Family Physicians: 4 family physicians in total in Guyana (Ponka, 2018)
Number of Physicians: 8.2 physicians per 10,000, (Workforce Survey Report, 2013).
DALY: 27,666 per 100,000 individuals (Due to all Causes).
Life Expectancy:
Females 2017: 69.2 years
Males 2017: 64.5 years
Mortality rate 2017:
2017 Males: 245 per 1,000 male adults.
2017 Females: 167 per 1,000 female adults.
Infant Immunization-HepB3: % of 1-year-old children received: 95%
College of Family Physicians (Y or N):
NO
Healthcare System
The health care system in Guyana is mixed – there is a private and public sector. They end up treating everyone between the two. Most physicians share their hours between their private clinic and their public hospital position. It is hard to quantify a number of physicians in each sector as they work in both and overlap. The residents of the family physician program in Guyana can only work in the public medical system. Family medicine is relatively new here and the were previously called general medical officers. Family medicine is new and fairly misunderstood in Guyana. It is publicly funded but salary hasn’t changed and there is no medical body ruling above it, but its recognition is increasing.
Theoretically, everyone has access to health care, but some barriers could be geography and the social determinants of health. Everybody gets immunized and coverage for vaccinations is good. All the normal vaccinations are well stocked, however, mental health drugs and ACE inhibitors among the other major drugs are scarce. The overall access to medical equipment is also sufficient for the physicians (Ponka, 2018).
practice
Some other primary care deliverers in Guyana include community health workers and nurses. The role of a family physician in Guyana includes dealing with lumps and bumps, IUDs, mental health problems, emergency procedures, and more patient centered care (Ponka, 2018). Family physicians are gatekeepers in the public system, but they are not used as gatekeepers in the private system. They use a community healthcare model in Guyana (Ponka, 2018).
References
Ponka, D., interviewed by Althaf Azward, November 26, 2018
“The New Zealand Medical Workforce in 2016.” n.d. Accessed December 2, 2018. https://www.mcnz.org.nz/assets/News-and-Publications/Workforce-Surveys/Workforce-Survey-Report-2016.pdf.