Staff turnover a problem
Stabroek News
March 25, 2002

The Family Planning Association of Guyana (FPAG) has set up an interim council and committee which will serve for two months following the failure to elect new members at its Annual General Meeting on Friday.

Members of the outgoing council and committee arrived at this consensus after failing to agree to suitable candidates to fill the posts which would have been vacated at the meeting. They agreed that the future direction of the project was dependent on the election of persons who could fulfil the demanding requirements.

This most recent setback comes in the wake of an exodus of project coordinators and members of the council and committee, which has plagued the FPAG over the past year.

President of the Council for the 2000-2001 period, Dr Gladstone Mitchell during his Presidential report revealed that over the past year, the FPAG has seen three project-coordinators, the resignation of a field supervisor as well as members of the council and committee. Dr Mitchell also lamented that while field workers did not perform as expected, the future of the project will hinge on improved performances in all sectors during the next six to twelve months.

Despite the current state of administration, however, the daily activities of the FPAG have been unaffected, according to Dr Mitchell's report. During the period under review he revealed, 3,826 clients were seen at the centre in comparison to 3,468 seen during the year 2000. There were 552 Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) patients, 474 of whom were treated on-site at FPAG's centre at Charlotte and Alexander Street, and 78 treated off-site.

He also explained that the FPAG has embarked on talks with young people, aimed at promoting family life education and also has initiated a collaborative effort with social partners in the health sector, the city council and women's organisations, and they have agreed to provide counselling, termination and contraceptives to their clients through FPAG.

Dr Mitchell also announced proposals for the 2001-2002 year, which included the purchasing of FPAG's own building and an effort to increase sonogram services, which Dr Mitchell described as one of the highlights of his term.

The FPAG, which was founded in 1995, seeks to improve access to Reproductive Health Services while promoting safe and responsible motherhood. The project specifically targets lower income women and women with less access to reproductive health services. The FPAG's reproductive health centre was officially opened in 1998 with a Community Based Distribution (CBD) Service, through which field workers will go to homes in the target areas to sell contraceptives and refer clients to the centre. Target areas include, Cummings Lodge, Lodge, East La Penitence and Sophia. Members of the interim Council are: Dr Gladstone Mitchell, President, Patricia Woolford, Vice-President, Compton Skeete, Treasurer and Cynthia Massay, Secretary. Members of the interim committee are Sandra Stuart, Magda Pollard, Marlyn Rodrigues and Marlyn Boston.