As at the end of 2009, the rate of maternal deaths in Guyana has been reduced to 9.8 per 10,000 deliveries.This development has been regarded by Health Minister,Wholesale Jerseys, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, as an excellent performance when compared to what was obtained in previous years. According to the Minister, in the year 1989, more than 30 women had died of child birth.Minister of Health, Dr Leslie RamsammyHowever, after taking up the ministerial mantle, Dr Ramsammy noted that the death rate has been reduced by more than half.“Indeed in 2009, the number of deaths from childbirth was 14, making possible a rate of about 98 per 100,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys,000. And this is nothing less than excellent performance given where we use to be…” said the Minister.But even with this improvement, he divulged that Guyana still lags behind many countries in the Caribbean.He recounted that when he became Minister, he had set an ambitious target of no more than eight deaths per 10,000 deliveries by 2012.The Minister expressed optimism yesterday that the Public Health Sector will still achieve this goal.“This is not for the Minister of Health to look good. Let’s forget the Minister but Guyana deserves an achievement like that…No woman should die in childbirth,Cheap Jerseys From China,” he asserted.But once the target is reached within the stipulated time,jerseys from china, Dr Ramsammy is proposing that an even more ambitious aim be made for 2015.It was discovered back in 1989 that 78 out of 1,000 babies died before reaching their fifth birthday.“The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had said it is a little higher because we were under-reporting the deaths. UNICEF said it was 128. So somewhere between 78 and 128 babies were dying before their fifth birthday,” the Minister revealed.He said that as at the end of 2009,Wholesale Jerseys From China, the Ministry had already reduced the death of babies to 21 per 1,Cheap Carolina Panthers Jerseys,000.“We mustn’t be worse off than Barbados… Our nurses and our doctors are just as knowledgeable. When you look at why people die, it is clearly not a lack of knowledge,” the Minister affirmed.Excellent performance in the local health sector, he said, is certainly no opportunity for celebration as the loss of 21 infants, per 1000, is far more than Trinidad’s 16, Barbados’s 12 as well as the figures for Jamaica, Dominica, Antigua and St Kitts. “This is one time when more is not good enough. This is one time when we want less.”And again the Minister said, a goal has been set which should see no more than 16 infants being lost by 2012.But while this goal has been regarded as even more ambitious, the Minister said there is a need to take a chance in order to see results.And even without setting a number, it is the Minister’s expectation that Guyana will be no worse off than any country in Caricom by 2015. “We need to ensure that no country in Caricom is so far better than us…We have our task set out for us.”But even while training of personnel to further improve the system is ongoing, the Minister noted that there is also need to ensure that they never leave home without heart.