Dr. Frank Anthony on Saturday handed over two portable ultrasound machines and seven Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds to Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Vishalya Sharma.
The machines will be allocated to Mibikuri Cottage and New Amsterdam Regional Hospitals to improve medical imaging service at the facilities.
The handing over was done at the Regional Bond, New Amsterdam. During the handing over event the minister underscored the importance of improving diagnostic services, “One of the things that we are trying to do is to improve diagnostic especially medical imaging. This falls into that realm of trying to improve access to medical imaging.”
The health minister said the ministry recently acquired 52 of these beds which can be utilised in the ICU.
“We want you to put it in the areas that it would be best utilised because they have a lot of functional capabilities. We don’t want the regular beds to be in these units because we know from time to time, these patients would require special care where you will have changed the position of the patients,” he urged.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sharma noted that these ultrasound machines would be used to improve healthcare service delivery and the lives of all the people in the region.
She emphasised that there has been a 30 per cent increase in ultrasounds conducted in the region within the last two years.
This expansion is not just for ultrasounds but also represents a broad spectrum of diagnostic services across the region, which include x-rays and laboratory services. So far for 2023, Mibikuri and Orealla hospitals have conducted 50 ultrasounds.
