Paediatric and Maternal hospital construction to begin soon

Massive infrastructural and human resource development will be evident in all regions across the country, as the government continues to make the necessary interventions to ensure the delivery of world-class healthcare services in Guyana.

It was revealed that one of the many initiatives is the construction of a 256 -bed Paediatric and Maternal Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara. It was disclosed that construction is expected to commence during the coming week. Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony revealed this during an outreach in Melanie.

“One of the things that we’ll be doing is the President will be turning the sod for a 256 beds Paediatric and Maternal Hospital and that is going to upgrade the quality of services that we have been offering to children and high-risk mothers,” Dr Anthony noted.

It was disclosed that some $12.4B was allocated in the 2022 budget for the design and construction of the hospital.

Additionally, it was revealed that the West Demerara and Bartica regional hospitals are slated to be upgraded, as well as the construction of six modern regional hospitals at Anna Regina, Tuschen, Diamond, Enmore, Bath and No. 75 Village, Corentyne.

The health minister explained that the regional hospital at Enmore will be equipped with at least 75 inpatient beds, a modern accident and emergency department, modern laboratories, imaging suite and a modern CT scan, among other services.

“So no longer will you have to leave here to go to Georgetown and then you’ll need to pay 30 to 70 thousand dollars for a CT scan we will be able to offer it here free of costs,” Dr. Anthony said.

Minister Anthony stressed government’s commitment to improving the quality of healthcare services in Guyana.

“Among the things that we want to do in the health sector is to ensure that we improve the quality of health across Guyana,” he added. The minister noted that Government has also allocated $100M to each region for infrastructural improvements to all healthcare facilities.

Meanwhile, Dr Anthony further stressed that the country’s first of it’s kind Diabetic One-Stop-Shop will be completed by the end of this year. This centre will provide all the necessary services for diabetic patients.

“We want to work very closely with you, we want to improve what is happening in every community and the only way we’ll be able to do that is in collaboration with you”, according to the minister.

It was revealed that the outreach was led by Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, accompanied by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill, Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal, Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall and Public Affairs Minister, Kwame McCoy.

The team is expected to return to the community next Wednesday to address other issues on the ground.