DESPITE the prognostications of the doomsayers and naysayers, President Bharrat Jagdeo, like his mentor, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the welfare of the Guyanese people, whom he has served so well during all his years in public office, especially in view of the fact that he is due to demit office this year subsequent to general elections. Not even his worst critics can deny the fact that he has worked above and beyond the call of duty to put Guyana back on socio-economic track, and his achievements have been lauded the world over, although political opportunists refuse to give him credit for the efforts he has made, which have borne fruit in overabundance, although there is much more to be done before the country has achieved the zenith of its potential.
At a recent press conference, he spoke of significant efforts to improve healthcare in Guyana. According to the President, as a result of significant investments made in the health sector, the coverage and quality of primary healthcare has expanded, with Government having built numerous institutions over the past several years, most of them funded directly from the national budget. Thousands of doctors, medexes and nurses, as well as other allied healthcare professionals have boosted the capacity of the sector.
President Jagdeo wants to introduce a level of care within communities so that doctors can visit households. This is already being done in Region Six (East Berbice /Corentyne) through the Berbice Regional Health Authority, with follow-up visits and treatment regimen being conducted by conjunctive staff.
Decades ago, healthcare providers visited patients at home. The President is re-introducing this. What a boon this will be to the elderly and shut-ins, and mothers with infant children.
The gap in the sector that he currently proposes to fill in the near future is good quality and affordable tertiary healthcare.
He spoke of partnerships through which Government has worked to enhance services and service delivery. As an example, he cited the heart clinic at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), for which Government provided the equipment, with the proviso that the rates charged for surgeries done at that facility would be kept low.
Government is also assisting patients in the areas of cancer treatment, dialysis, and even those who seek treatment overseas.
However, President Jagdeo concurred that this is not enough, because the treatments for various ailments, cardiac surgery, for instance, is extremely prohibitive overseas, especially in North American and some Caribbean hospitals, where the cost of one surgery could range between US$30,000 – US$40,000.
The President expressed his intention to fill this need, and revealed that the process had begun since last year during the UN summit, when he spoke to the Foreign Minister of India about using a line of credit that Guyana had with that country to build a specialty hospital, with an Indian partner managing the facility, and specialist staff provided primarily from India. Rates would be negotiated between the Government of Guyana and the management of the hospital, but with certainty it would be a minimal amount in comparison to what is being charged overseas.
President Jagdeo is confident that the specialty hospital being proposed would provide healthcare at the highest possible level.  He explained that patients from North America access tertiary healthcare in India through medical tourism “because of the competitive nature of those services in India.”
He envisages that the specialty hospital he is negotiating to establish would provide every possible tertiary healthcare, from cardiology, to transplant of organs, and even cosmetic surgery.
According to President Jagdeo, the proposed hospital would be targeting the healthcare market from the Caribbean, South American neighbours, and even North America, as is being done by patients who need eye-care. They visit the Ophthalmology Hospital at Port Mourant from all over the world to access the best quality of eye-care, which, at this facility, is provided absolutely free.
“I am hoping that before the end of the year, we can start the construction,” the President said, “and within a year-and-a-half — maximum two years — that any surgery that you can have in the United States of America, we would be able to have here in Guyana at the same quality at a fraction of the cost.”
During his visit to India also, the President met with members of India’s Private Sector, hoping, as he said, to stimulate greater Indian interest in investments here.
“India, as you know, is growing at a rapid pace… India and China would be two of the major economies in the future.  Already, China, in purchasing power parity, is Number Two in the world. India, in another five years, may occupy the Number Three position in purchasing power parity… So we need to be linked into that to keep the economy here growing.”
This specialty hospital is another visionary strategy by President Jagdeo’s to optimize the quality of life, and provide better opportunities, in every possible way, for the Guyanese people.
However, all his efforts come under intense attack by the local political Mafia and their satellites — in and out of Guyana. The latest attack by COHA (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) has been competently dealt with by no less a personage than the grandson of the late Dr. and Mrs. Cheddi and Janet Jagan, young attorney, Cheddi Jagan III.
But this is elections season, and the attacks will intensify, although the President is determined to ramp up his efforts to leave a legacy that will be the fructification of years of indefatigable effort and endeavour of the PPP/C Government, with sincere and committed personages at the helm – a legacy that has transformed this nation from being at the lowest rungs of the developmental graph, to one where Guyana can boast stable macro-economic fundamentals during a period of global financial crisis, national food security when the world is facing food shortage, a rapidly down-spiralling poverty index, and, most importantly, relative peace in the nation.