Cryotherapy machines to treat cervical cancer given to Hinterland Regions

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, recently handed over six cryotherapy machines to Regions
One, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine to enable treatment of cervical cancer in the regions.
It was disclosed that the machines were purchased by the health ministry, through its non-
communicable diseases programme. This, it said, is part of the ministry’s efforts to eliminate and
reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Guyana. “Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent
cancer among women in Guyana, and we believe that this is one of the cancers that if we work
very hard, that we’ll be able to eliminate from Guyana,” Dr. Anthony said.
The minister noted that there are more than 20 Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) clinics
across the country, however when persons are diagnosed with cervical cancer, the clinics are
unable to treat these patients due to the lack of cryotherapy machines.   “Very often when we
detect some abnormality in the cervix, the clinic very often does not have a cryotherapy machine
to do the treatment,” Minister Anthony said. He continued “This is the start of correcting that
because we are going to offer to the different regions these cryotherapy machine.”
The health minister said that in order to prevent cervical cancer, females between the ages of
nine to 14 must receive their Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Dr. Anthony said even with
the availability of these vaccines, a lot of persons are still unvaccinated. “During this year, one
of the things that we want to do is to have a more dedicated programme to roll out HPV and we
hope that we can get the support of the general public as we do so,” Dr. Anthony said.
Minister Anthony revealed that the cryotherapy machines will reduce the time for patients to
travel to Georgetown for treatment and also reduce the loss of persons who were diagnosed and
did not show up for treatment. The minister further stressed that as government continues to
expand VIA clinics across the country, they will not only do testing for cervical cancer, but will
also be equipped with cryotherapy machines to treat patients.
Additionally, healthcare workers have already been trained to use the machines to deliver
adequate services to the regions.