Evan Engram Jersey zp0bieli

fd9je6mn

Guyana has been deemed very progressive for implementing an Act that governs the medical termination of pregnancy. The move has been lauded when consideration is given to the fact that Guyana has been proactive when compared to other territories in South America and the Caribbean.This observation was recently made by Dr. Janie Pak,Sebastian Rode Dortmund Jersey, the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Global Health Fellow attached to the WONDOOR Programme. This programme has been lending support to the Maternity Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).According to Dr. Pak, “Guyana has the most liberal laws that enable us to provide a safe termination of pregnancy service to women.”Dr. Pak has been here since earlier this year and is expected to continue to lend her support until 2018 to advance an Obstetrics and Gynaecology Residency programme.According to the Dr. Pak, while Guyana’s move to implement its Medical Termination Act has not caused a decrease in the number of abortions, it has, however, catered to a reduction in the deaths related to septic abortion.She disclosed that it has long been observed that the more restrictive laws are, the more unwanted deaths are likely to occur.Moves have also been made, Dr. Pak said, to promote the Family Planning Clinic at the GPHC. This, she related, has been realising success. “We have not only been providing in-depth contraceptive counselling so that women can choose a method but they are also able to plan their family size and be empowered in that way.”Part of the programme entails the offering of safe termination of pregnancy should anything untoward happen and a woman is not able to give birth to her baby.Although the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was brought into being since 1995, under the tenure of then Minister of Health, Gail Teixeira, it has been one fraught with controversy, with some persons advocating for the provision of the service and others opposing it.However, the Act was not fully implemented until 2014 under the tenure of Minister Bheri Ramsaran.Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, had told this publication that the implementation was running smoothly at several public health facilities. He, however, noted that “we didn’t make an announcement, deliberately, because we didn’t want to stigmatise any institution or health professionals, because in some countries there are designated abortion clinics and we don’t want to go there.”He pointed out that this has seen the Ministry being able to “institute the full law, which means that women seeking a termination of pregnancy, not related to medical conditions, incest or rape, can by choice come to one of the clinics to access the service.”Ahead of being afforded the service, Dr. Persaud explained that women are provided with pre-termination counselling. This, he noted, is in keeping with the Act which requires that a 48-hour period be given to patients to consider whether they still desire to proceed with the procedure.And according to Dr. Persaud too, “if they wish or wish not to discuss with their partner that’s fine; the law does not mandate them to do that. It is fully the woman’s right; she has the time to consider based on the counselling session whether she would like to go ahead and there are also options that will be given to her.””The law says that options should be described to the pregnant woman, one of which would be to go through with the pregnancy and maybe adoption options and so on, and then of course detailing the termination process itself which can have consequences.”He noted, however, that there may be instances when some women may not opt to voluntarily have an abortion, but are instead forced to do so for various reasons which could range from migration to marital issues.The importance of counselling cannot be understated as part of the process, said Dr. Persaud. “Counselling gives enough room for people to consider all the factors and to make informed decisions in the end.”Once a woman has carefully considered the possible options, she can then return to an approved health centre that is certified by the Chief Medical Officer to have the procedure done. On completion of the procedure, patients are then subjected to post-termination counselling which, according to Dr. Persaud, “include the provision of contraceptives so that they do not use termination as a form of contraceptive…this is to ensure that the next time around they would use an approved non-termination technique.”According to Dr. Pak, she has been able to observe that there has been an over 90 percent contraceptive uptake after an initial medical termination of pregnancy procedure.The Health Ministry, according to Dr. Persaud, has been working to ensure that all those tasked with conducting the procedure are properly trained and licensed and that “we are using recommended safe measures for termination.”In order to conduct a medical termination of pregnancy, practitioners must be so certified, which means that merely having a licence to practise as a doctor is not sufficient certification, Dr. Persaud disclosed.