Current Status

Emergency Medicine in Georgetown Guyana

Guyana is an under-populated developing country located on the northern coast of South America with a tropical atmosphere. This nation is historically and culturally associated with the Caribbean.

Health care has been developing over the past score of years with not only one local centre for medical undergraduate training but five (5). These schools facilitate undergrad medical training for Guyanese as well as foreign students.

The health Sector in Guyana is divided into public and private care. The public health system has only one (1) Tertiary center which is located in the capital city, Georgetown. This single referral center, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is supported by hosts of Regional Hospitals and Health Centers also in varying levels of development across the country.

Postgraduate education and training was non-existent in Guyana prior to 2008. After multiple efforts of collaboration the University of Guyana, GPHC and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), a Masters in Medicine Emergency Medicine was launched in September, 2010. This was formulated from a three (3) year curriculum taken from the Vanderbilt model. At that time, the VUMC partially released Dr. Nicolas Forget, the inaugural Program Director, who came to Guyana to ensure the proper execution of the course.

The Masters in Medicine in Emergency Medicine has thus far celebrated six (6) classes of fourteen (14) graduates.

About the Grads….

The first graduand (class of 2013) of the program, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, became the Head of Department of the Accident and Emergency Department at the GPHC immediately upon graduation. He is currently the only Consultant in the department. His interests extended beyond Emergency Department Administration to Emergency Medical Services. He has furthered his training in that area, trained staff and spearheaded the advent of a National Emergency Medical Services with trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Firemen.

The second class of graduates, Class of 2014, includes Dr. Tracey Bovell, a Senior Registrar, who is part of the department leadership team and has extended her portfolio as the Trauma Coordinator for the department. She successfully started the Trauma Registry in September, 2017. Dr. Bovell was trained in Israel to manage Mass Casualties and is the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Mass Casualty Instructor .She facilitates Simulation in the department and is the Nursing Care Coordinator. She continues to support the program with teaching and is the chief Instructor for the Triage Training Course for the entire Emergency Medicine team. The other graduate from this batch, Dr. Adama Francis, has since returned to her country she was assigned as the Head of Department at the Mount St John in Antigua and Barbuda.

The class of 2015, third batch, had the largest number of graduates, five (5). They are all Senior Registrars and Supervise shifts in the department.

Dr. Zelda Luke graduated in the class of 2015 and is a Senior Registrar and Floor Supervisor. She started the local ownership of the Master’s program as she immediately upon graduation became the Assistant Program Director working with Dr. Nicolas Forget who had to return to Vanderbilt University Medical Centre. She ensured the program was correctly ran and reported to Dr. Forget. She has since acquired addition training where she completed the American College of Emergency Physician’s Teaching Fellowship in 2018 and was promoted to Program Director of the Masters in Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Sri Devi Jagjit also forms part of the department’s leadership as a Senior Registrar. She has completed her fellowship training in Emergency Ultrasound through the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre. She is the emergency ultrasound guru locally and facilitates training in such to the entire department staff.

Dr. Balram Doodnauth, has his portfolio in Emergency Department (ED) Administration. He functions as the Head of Department during the HOD’s absence. He is currently pursuing a fellowship in ED Administration. Dr. Doodnauth.

Dr. Esan Reid is the Medical Students Coordinator. Since graduation in 2015, he has formulated a curriculum for the Medical Students rotation in the Accident and Emergency Department (A &E). He has also prepared a package which includes a study guide and evaluation for the medical students’ rotation. Dr. Reid also assisted for brief period with the training for EMTs in the Emergency Medical Services and teaches ECGs in the department.

Dr. Batukhan Wilson is the Critical Care Coordinator. He advocates for all the relevant materials, trains the staff in the use and teaches critical care to the residents once per month.

The class of 2016 celebrated Dr. Priscilla Joseph. Dr. Joseph is also a Senior Registrar and Supervises shifts in the Accident and Emergency Department. She has been working with stakeholders as she tries to develop a toxicology center. She lectures the Toxicology segment on the curriculum and offers advice on such cases in the department.

The fifth group of graduands, class of 2017, had three (3) graduands: Dr. Daniel St. Louis, who is from Grenada and has since returned home. He has a senior role in the Leadership of the Emergency Department at his hospital and continues bedside teaching at that institution. Dr. Hemchand Jhagru has an interest in Sports Medicine and has since been heading the Emergency Department at one (1) of the local Regional Hospitals in Guyana. The other member of that class is Dr. Rajiv Singh. He continues to work in the Accident and Emergency Department fulltime. He is the Roster Personnel and is very interested in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

The Masters in Emergency Medicine celebrated the sixth (6^th) class of graduands in November, 2018. There are two (2) who have been scored among the highest in the program academically. Dr. Dwayne Kellman is one of our recent grads and extends his interest in Medical Education. Dr. Rayal Jhagru the other of our recent grads has interests which include Medical Education, Emergency Ultrasound, Cardiology and ECGs and Emergency Medical Services. Both Drs. Kellman and Jhagru continue to teach core EM topics and participate in the weekly residents’ conference.

Dr. Melissa Rickett and Dr. Andy Walcott both graduated in 2019 and are both Medical Registrars functioning as shift supervisors

Dr. Dellon Durga graduated in 2020 and is currently a Medical Registrar and shift supervisor with a keen interest in Global Health

Dr Vedprakash Etwaria graduated in 2021 and is currently a Medical Registrar. He is the Research and Protocol Coordinator for the Emergency Department

Dr. Odesia Low, Dr. Lucieanna Mohan-Quinn and Dr. Gerald Thompson have recently graduated in 2022

Currently there are (8) Residents

3rd Years

Dr. Sirpaul Rampersaud

Dr. Satyanand Harikishun

2nd Years

Dr. Orin Lewis

Dr. Ivelyn Pluck

Dr. Alithia Hull

Dr. Abigail Noel

1 Years

Dr. Oni Kertzious

Dr. Maheshwar Rangasammy