Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh on Thursday tabled two agreements in the National Assembly to cater for the construction of modern health care facilities in five of Guyana’s ten Regions.
The first Export Finance Agreement (No. CIE/BC-DL/Guyana/0020014380) dated June 14, 2022 is between Guyana and the United Kingdom Export Finance. It totals €161,016,949 and allows for the financing, design, and construction of a state-of-the-art Paediatric and Maternal Hospital at Ogle as well as the delivery of medical equipment to the institution.
The second agreement is a Deferred Payment Agreement (Lot One (1) to Lot Six (6) dated July 12, 2022 between Guyana and the China CAMC Engineering Company Limited for a total of €136,132,800 for the financing of the government’s Regional Hospitals Project.
Six Hospitals will be constructed in five regions; one in Region Two; one at De Kinderen, Region Three; one at Diamond and another at Enmore, in Region Four; one in Bath, Region Five and one in Number 75 Village, Region Six.
The Paediatric and Maternal Hospital at Ogle will be equipped with 256 beds while each of the six modern hospitals is slated to be equipped with 75 beds.
“Ensuring a modern, world class healthcare system is a paramount objective for our Government. To this end, we will leverage existing and soon-to-be-built public healthcare facilities, private investment, as well as public-private partnerships in the sector, with the aim of not only meeting the needs of our citizens and residents, but also to be able to offer medical treatment as an export service through medical tourism,” Dr. Singh was quoted in a press release from the finance ministry on Thursday as saying in his 2022 Budget presentation.
He also referred to the construction of the paediatric and maternal hospital as well as the six new regional hospitals, while noting that the hospitals will catapult Guyana’s healthcare delivery and will reduce the undue cost and burden of referrals to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), the release said.
Further, earlier this month President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that a national healthcare initiative would commence in collaboration with the Mount Sinai Health System, an internationally recognized healthcare provider, and Hess Corporation to improve access to and the quality of healthcare for Guyanese.
“The initiative allows the Mount Sinai/Hess Corporation partnership to work with the Government of Guyana to assist and advise Government how to develop and implement a high-quality primary health care system including specialized services in cardiology and oncology, to bring about significant improvement at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC),” the press release said.
