‘Vast improvements’ as long-standing drug shortages near resolved – Health Minister 

Guyana has been grappling with drug shortages for several years but Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony says that vast improvements have been made over the past two years, with the health sector stocking most of the essential medicines.

“A lot of time when people come to our health centers, they would often complain that they are not getting medicines,” Dr. Anthony lamented at a recent government outreach activity at Melanie on the East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Though he said that the government is prioritising healthcare across Guyana, he noted that this long-standing challenge has hindered efforts.

Now, however, the Health Minister said that there have been “vast improvements” with the ministry supplying about 85 to 90 per cent of the essential medicines to health centers across the country.

Guyana’s drug shortage situation was exacerbated last year when local health authorities were forced to dump billions of dollars in expired drugs. Since then, the Health Minister said that efforts have been made to regulate the country’s supplies more efficiently.

But drug shortages are not the only issues the local health sector has been grappling with, according to the Health Minister. He noted that health centers across the country are in need of many improvements.

He added that the government has allocated $100 million to each region for infrastructural development.

Importantly, too, he said there is a substantial need for more healthcare workers. As such, he encouraged people to apply for the more than 20 different training programmes offered by the ministry.