continuity of care is organized in the isolated municipalities of Maroni

How the most isolated health centers are coping with the drought in Guyana ? While the rivers no longer allow canoes to navigate to transport medicines and patients, we must organize ourselves.

“The hospital is having problems transporting medicines because there are no longer any canoes between Saint-Laurent and Maripasoulaconfirms Mélanie Teixeira Alves, health executive at the Maripasoula local hospital. We are gradually moving by air with the installation of two twin-engine planes to provide what we lacked.”

Normally, the Maripasoula local hospital receives its medication orders by river once a month.

So far, we have managed not to run out of medicines and materials by helping out with other health centers until the orders arrive.

Mélanie Teixeira Alves, health executive at the Maripasoula local hospital

“The logistics department in Cayenne also sent us the equipment we were going to run out of by the next helicopter”she continues. The Maripasoula local hospital currently has six doctors and two interns.

“We try to anticipate our requests as much as possible, adds Mélanie Teixeira Alves. And it is also possible to help out with the CDPS, the Papaïchton delocalized prevention and care center accessible by the track.

The drought also prevents the transport of patients and health personnel. “To go to Taluen and Antecum, we can no longer use the river, so we have set up the rotation of a helicopter every two weeks,” explains Mélanie Teixeira Alves, health manager at the Maripasoula local hospital.

The objective is to keep the CDPS open, to ensure and guarantee access to care even for the most isolated people.

Doctors are sent to villages to monitor patients. Currently, there is a nurse, a doctor and ASHs, Hospital Service Agents, in Taluen, as well as mediators and ASHs in Antecum-Pata. If a vital emergency was reported in the municipalities of Haut-Maroni, a medical evacuation would then be triggered by helicopter, as is usually the case.

In terms of pathologies, the Maripasoula local hospital is not seeing an influx of additional patients. “Apart from gold miners treated for sunstroke and dehydrationnotes Doctor Caroline Migault at the Maripasoula local hospital. They work in extreme heat, forget to drink water or drink alcohol, which is not absolutely recommended.”

With such temperatures, you must take shelter, avoid going out during the hottest hours and above all drink drinking water regularly, especially for children and the elderly.

If the drought and lack of supply of goods lasts for several months, “there would be risks of vitamin deficiency”, which can cause pathologies, adds Doctor Caroline Migault.

In Papaïchton, residents also deal with the extreme heat and water cuts from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the town. At middle school, Tania Cabos, the school nurse, encourages students to drink lots of water when they can. “They need to hydrate because some complain of headaches,” explains the nurse.

Dirt and dust are also increasingly causing respiratory problems. Students have asthma.

Tania Cabos, school nurse

In Taluen, the health situation also worries the village chief, Michel Aloike. “If we have a sick person, how can we transport him to Maripasoula?” he wonders, if it is not a vital emergency.

Michel Aloike also recalls that the town has been without running water for three years. “Drinking water has returned a little, but with the drought, we will still lack water, he explains.

People who have the means can buy water packs, but those who cannot afford this solution go to fetch water from the creeks. We're trying to survive, that's the word.

Michel Aloike, chef du village de Taluen

According to him, this situation is “dangerous for health”. “I know that in the coming days, children will arrive at the clinic with stomach upset and vomiting,” warns Michel Aloike.

The State launched the ORSEC water plan on October 31. The army's Casa planes made six rotations to transport foodstuffs to the river communities. But what longer-term solutions?

Météo France Guyane is already announcing a rainfall deficit for the entire month of November. Some forecasters even estimate that it could last until December.