As early as next year the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is expected to be able to offer gastroenterology service in its quest to address the problem of colon cancer. And this, according to Chief Executive Officer of the public hospital, Michael Khan, will be made possible through the hospital’s collaboration with New York-based gastroenterologist, Dr Susan Ramdhaney-Stephens.During an interview with this newspaper earlier this year, Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens, wife of Cardiac Surgeon, Dr Gary Stephens, attached to the Caribbean Heart Institute, had envisioned that a gastroenterology unit will be in place by mid-next year.But according to Khan, the hospital has already commenced procuring the relevant equipment to facilitate the process.He revealed that through a similar arrangement the hospital has with Dr Stephens to facilitate heart surgeries throughout the year, Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens will also operate at the public hospital.As a part of the plan, he said that GPHC was tasked with procuring requisite items required by the gastroenterologist following which she will commence her routine travels here to offer her service to the general public.Khan said that Dr Madan Rambaran,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, Director of Medical and Professional Services, will work closely with Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens on the important venture which comes as part of the hospital’s intensified public health approach.Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens operates at a number of US hospitals and also has a private clinic but has been travelling to Guyana with her husband over the past few years to provide cardiac service here.And since she is unable to render assistance to her husband’s cause, Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens said that she decided to forge her own collaboration with the officials of the GPHC with a view of setting up a gastroenterology unit.Gastroenterology is the study of digestive diseases, including systems of the oesophagus, stomach, colon, small bowels, pancreas and the liver. And according to the doctor, one of the easily detectable diseases which could be fatal and preventable is colon cancer.She revealed that in the US, every individual over the age of 50 is expected to have a colonoscopy. “This is where we look into the colon with a camera to see if there are any abnormal growths and with the aid of a camera we can remove it,” Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens explained.According to her, the use of the camera is simply a non-invasive procedure which can easily detect cancers in areas such as the stomach and the oesophagus.And although the incidence of the disease here is not known, she divulged that the idea to introduce the service is rooted in the fact that colon cancer is very prevalent in minorities and because there is no screening service offered locally.“If you can detect colon cancer in somebody at the age of 45 or even a polyp, which is an abnormal growth, it can be removed very easily and that person’s life could be saved because it takes 10 years for these to become cancer.”The Gastroenterology unit will also be able to address the impact of a number of other diseases prevalent in the Caribbean, Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens added. “Different diseases such as gastrointestinal bleeds can be stopped easily with a camera without having to take the patient to the operating room.“The camera is inserted through the mouth and into the stomach and we can look for the bleeding area and clip it or put heat on it and stop the bleeding. It is a very simple procedure that takes three minutes instead of putting the patient in the operating room to diagnose a bleed.”Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens also related that in the Caribbean there are two major causes of liver diseases that can be found that are secondary to alcohol and Hepatitis C. Patients with such complications can easily develop cirrhosis, but can have a new lease on life if the ailments are detected early and treated.Up to earlier this year, Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens and officials of the GPHC were in the process of investigating some of the possible places that they could purchase equipment for the unit.“I know they are looking at buying some systems from other countries so right now we have not identified a source for the equipment,” she said.However, while plans are streamlined to have the service be offered in a hospital setting, Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens pointed out that the majority of the procedures could be done in an office.“It is more comfortable for the patients because it is a very simple process that can have so much benefit. My hope is to have something running by the middle of next year and do serious cases in the hospital setting.Those that are not so sick and symptomatic can be looked at in an office setting,” Dr Ramdhaney-Stephens added.
