Too many medical terminations of pregnancy are still not being reported, according to Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy. The Minister’s remarks were forthcoming on Monday even as he addressed a family planning forum at the Pegasus Hotel.The forum which was engaged by the Maternal and Child, Health Department of the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) was intended to raise awareness about the importance of family planning.According to Ramsammy, health care providers, whether within the public or private sector must become more cognizant, not only of the law that supports the medical termination of pregnancy, but also the intent of the law.“I believe that it is not only contrary and unlawful on the part of health care providers but it is immoral for them to be participating with the medical termination of pregnancy in a manner contrary to the letter and intent of the law. Our families, particularly girls and women, ought to benefit from education, awareness and counselling when it comes to the matter of termination of a pregnancy.”The Minister expressed dissatisfaction that some health care providers have abdicated their responsibility to some extent in Guyana, adding that it is a responsibility and a mandate for health care providers to ensure that persons be provided with adequate and relevant information as it relates to the medical termination of pregnancy.“I am saddened by the fact that there are too many medical terminations in our country that are not reported to the ministry. We need to keep our data and the collection of data strong. The law was enacted to ensure that medical termination is done in an environment that is safe for the woman, for her child and her family. I am not certain that those intents and targets are being met.”The Minister highlighted his suspicions that there are still too many women who have to access medical termination by personnel who are not properly trained and that there are medical termination of pregnancies that are still being done unsupervised.“I have spoken about the use of Cytotech as part of the medical termination. This, when used under the supervision of a trained personnel,Cheap Basketball Jerseys, is a vital and very useful tool in medical termination. The Ministry of Health is not opposed to the use of medicine in achieving the goal of medical termination, however, because of the lack of cooperation it is not always done under supervision.”The Minister said that he continues to echo his warning to all pharmacies that Cytotech is a prescription drug and is not an over-the-counter medicine. As a result, he cautioned that it should only be sold upon the presentation of a legitimate prescription made by authorised personnel.“For 10 years I have repeated those calls and I keep calling on the Pharmacy Council and the Pharmacy Association to work more assiduously with the Ministry, because this is an issue of our responsibility and mandate, and it underlies our moral standing in society. We need to ensure as we talk about family planning as a fundamental right that every person becomes aware and educated about their sexual and reproductive rights…”But even in the face of the challenges, the Minister noted that Ministry staffers across the country must be congratulated.“I believe that we have done a remarkable job at our health posts, health centres and hospitals; there can be no doubt that health workers require commendation for the work that they have been doing in sexual and reproductive health,” Ramsammy asserted.He said that due to the efforts of the health sector, fewer women have been admitted into the hospitals for complications related to unsafe termination of pregnancy.He also attributed the efforts of health staffers to the fact that more men and women have been utilising condoms. However, he lamented that women still are having meagre access to female type condoms. “We need to make it widely available. The fact is that we do have in Guyana an adequate supply of contraceptives though there may not be adequate access. Guyana is not one of those countries that have a major problem meeting the demand in terms of obtaining enough contraceptives but we still have some weaknesses in getting it to the women.”
