ONE commitment given by the government when it assumed office in 1992 was to transform the health sector from the poor state it was in, at that time, into a modern and accessible quality health service.
And it has certainly stood firmly by its commitment as is evidenced by improvements in all aspects of health care.
Only those who see but pretend not to see will deny that the health care system has not improved significantly, both in terms of infrastructure and human resources. And there are a few such people in the society.
But all societies have such people and in a thriving democracy they are free to openly express their views whether they are inaccurate, distortions of the truth and in some cases pure lies.
A few examples will suffice to underpin the dramatic transformation of the health sector.
Today, the main hospital is unrecognisable compared to what it was two decades ago. There are modern facilities for all aspects of medical diagnosis and treatment; the buildings have been magnificently refurbished and there are more medical staff and drugs available than at any time in its history.
New state-of-the-art hospitals have been built at New Amsterdam, Lethem, Mabaruma and Linden.
But it has not just been improvement for the urban centres because almost all of the rural health facilities have been upgraded and refurbished and scores of new ones built in remote communities where such facilities never existed.
Therefore, a wider range of medical services is now available to the rural communities and this avoids them the hassle, inconvenience, and costs in having to travel long distances to access basic health care.
The health institutions have also been significantly boosted with additional medical personnel and this has been largely as a result of the University of Guyana having a Medical Faculty and, very importantly, the generous Cuban scholarship programme and the medical brigades which have been of tremendous help to the local health sector.
But the government has not only built and refurbished medical facilities. It has also expanded the range of specialised medical services and as such history was made when a couple of years ago, the first heart surgery successfully took place on this soil following the establishment of the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
And more recently, again through technical assistance from Cuba, a multi-million-dollar Ophthalmology Centre was established at Port Mourant in Berbice.
At the rural level, Cuba has assisted with the upgrading of several cottage hospitals into Diagnostic Centres so a much wider range of services is now offered in those communities where these facilities exist, easing the pressure on the central hospitals.
A very commendable development in the health sector, too, has been the growing public/private sector partnership which has realised many successful medical outreaches in several rural communities.
These ventures have seen the collaboration among the public health system, the local private sector and Guyanese Diaspora from North America.
One major reason for the success of these medical outreaches is the fact that in many of these communities surgery and other forms of medical treatment are now possible because the medical facilities are geared for such medical interventions.
Only recently, Lethem benefitted from such an outreach where 28 different surgeries were carried out successfully. This would not have been possible if the new Lethem Hospital did not have the required facilities.
Another very positive development within the health sector has been the constant training of community health workers who serve the communities in which they reside and this has proved to be very effective in remote communities where logistics of getting access could be a real challenge.
Of course, the public health care system still needs improvement, particularly with respect to human resources training and the interactions of medical personnel with the public at large as the attitude of some is not befitting of the profession.
But undeniably, the local health sector has seen steady and impressive progress.