Health sector will make possible what skeptics doubt
– Ramsammy
THE health sector has been allocated $14 billion in the 2011 National Budget of $161.4 billion and Minister with the portfolio, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has commended it as one of the best budgets ever presented by the current administration.
“I am proud that the government continues to pursue a model of growing the economy and investing in the people’s welfare,” he told the Guyana Chronicle, in an invited comment.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, in his presentation to the National Assembly on Monday, said the health and social services recorded growth of 8.4 per cent, reflecting that both the public and privately owned facilities expanded.
“Our government remains committed to creating a health care system which delivers quality health services to all persons,” he said.
The Finance Minister noted that the government, in 2010, expended $13.4 billion towards the implementation of the National Health Sector Strategy 2008-2012.
Other interventions, he identified, included:
* expenditure of $1.3 billion for the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of health care facilities in 2010;
* expenditure of more than $280M on training to improve doctors and nurses’ population ratio;
* completion of the National Emergency Obstetric Care Assessment at 52 sites and four neonatal hospitals and the findings are being used to improve them and
* the sustained implementation of the Basic Nutrition Programme, which enhanced the visitation of mothers to clinics, combined with the expanded immunisation programme.
Singh said the 2011 budgetary allocation is aimed at improving the quality of services provided, by continuing efforts to improve infrastructure, human resources and delivery of the publicly guaranteed health services package.
He affirmed that the several areas of support will continue in 2011 and one of the primary areas to see continuation is the accessibility of testing, with the aim of reaching every citizen, in an effort to achieve universal coverage for HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care before 2015.

DECENTRALISED

Singh said the Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course (DOTS) is expected to be decentralised to the Regions, while the Enablers Programme will extend to Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne).
He said another key area earmarked for expansion is the Roll Back Malaria Initiative, planned to address preventative measures, early malaria diagnosis and effective treatment.
Singh disclosed that other support to bolster the delivery of quality health includes:
* the injection of $345M into training activities, which will provide for an additional 250 professional nurses and 140 clinical and technical staff being trained, while more than 280 students in various health disciplines are currently in training in the various schools;
* the allocation of $1billion for the construction and maintenance of health sector buildings and infrastructure nationwide;
* the completion, this year, of the storage bond at Diamond, East Bank Demerara and
* the allocation of $235M to complete the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) in-patient facility, while facilities at Enmore Polyclinic, East Coast Demerara, West Demerara Regional Hospital, West Coast Demerara, Leguan Hospital on that island and Oscar Joseph District Hospital, Essequibo Coast, are expected to be upgraded.
The Finance Minister said: “Progress is being felt and lived, every day. 27,344 persons saw an ophthalmologist and 542 had cataract surgeries at Port Mourant since the National Ophthalmological Hospital opened its doors. The work is not over and much remains to be done.”

COMMITMENT

In that context, Ramsammy attested that the allocation to the health sector in 2011, categorically, reiterates the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government’s commitment to the social welfare and development of the Guyanese people.
He said the health provisions translate to a US$95 per capita.
“Together with the Global Fund and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) we will see investment of almost US$100 per capita,” Ramsammy calculated.
He recalled that, in 1991, the per capita investment was US$6.7.
“None of us would believe that, so soon, we would see such a dramatic increase in health investment. This budget will allow us to further improve the health sector,” Ramsammy asserted.
He said the sector will make possible what many skeptics doubt, including the further reduction of child deaths to fewer than 16 per 1,000 and maternal mortality to fewer than 10 per 10,000.
“We expect to start a specialty hospital outside the GPH. This will be done as a public/private partnership, with doctors who will come from abroad. It will focus on services either unavailable or only available on a limited basis,” Ramsammy announced.
He said the social sector budget will benefit all citizens, particularly the working class, the elderly and children.