As part of its monthly activity, the Guyana International Relief Organization (GIRO), a non-profitable organization in Guyana operated by Ms. Zameena and other local volunteers, whose objective is to provide adequate medical services to the indigent people of Guyana and other basic needs, organized a medical outreach this last Sunday (16th December, 2018) at La Grange, East Bank, Demerara, Guyana.
The outreach involves qualified doctors who practice both at public settings and private settings to see patients on a monthly basis, conduct physical examinations, prescribe medications and make appropriate referrals to the public hospital if needed at free of cost.
This medical outreach was a special one as it was colorfully attended by students of 51²è¹Ýapp, School of Medicine (LAU). Five students from the University volunteered to be part of the social service. They were trained by Dr. Yusuf Abdullah (Faculty of Anatomy & Physiology at LAU, who initiated the idea) on how to take the medical history from patients. Dr. Abdullah had been working for GIRO since his medical student days and had continued even as a medical doctor to give this service to the community.
From the training students received at LAU, the volunteer students were involved in blood pressure measurement, blood glucose level taking, pulse reading, and medical history documentation.
The organizers of the outreach were very happy to have the LAU students in the program as this is the first time a medical university sent their students to assist in GIRO’s medical outreach program.
The community was very delighted to have young and prospective medical students attending them under the guidance of their teacher. The organizers of the program suggested that the university authority should make a point of duty for students of LAU to be a part of GIRO so that LAU students come with them anytime they are having the outreach.
Those from LAU who participated are:
- Two staff members: Dr. Abdullah Yusuf and Ms. Prerna Lama.
- Five students: Neha Choudhary, Saurav, Jai, Arya, and Ram.
LAU is ranked among the fastest growing medical colleges in Guyana to pursue MD in America and is actively involved in improving the health of the locals.
The students & faculty members of LAU have been associated with such kind of events on a local level. This clearly reflects the conscience of the management at the University and helps the students to imbibe the empathic approach, even before the completion of their medical graduation. This also allows the students to understand the real issues and develop a more pragmatic approach in handling similar situations.
Dr. Yusuf Abdullah has played a pivotal role in the organization for a long time and has been very instrumental in organizing such events. By participating in the noble cause, LAU students also got the opportunity to be better prepared for local health problems and remedial action required to overcome it.
This kind of drives also help the local Guyanese people with limited or no access, to procure basic health services. To make it even better, this will not be a one-time activity but a monthly activity that would be carried out periodically on last Sunday of every month. This would provide a complete health support system for the locals and revive the local health conditions for the citizens of Guyana and contribute for the betterment of the world.
