A prime example of Government’s national healthcare thrust
DURING the commissioning of the $120M East Bank Demerara Hospital at Diamond on October 12, 2007, President Bharrat Jagdeo had reiterated the PPP/C administration’s commitment to further improve the health sector primarily based on Government’s New National Health Plan. From the inception of the Dr. Cheddi Jagan-led government in 1992, there has been frenetic interventions to halt the decay and reverse the destructive and debilitating trends that had become endemic to every vital sector in the country, but the constraints were  overwhelming, especially with the crippling debt burden inhibiting developmental initiatives.
However, by dint of superhuman effort and great sacrifice – including the life of Dr. Jagan, who postponed a simple medical intervention until it was too late, the mobility of the national development paradigm swung upwards until today, while much yet has to be done, enough has been achieved to graph Guyana as a middle-income country on international developmental indices.
In the health sector the implementation of a new five-year National Strategic Health Plan has provided free healthcare for every Guyanese countrywide; and even those who return to this country merely to access the free and equitable healthcare that is not accessible in the first-world countries in which they reside.

At the commissioning at the facility at Diamond the President had said, “We are at a stage where we have to shift the focus a bit, because when you would have addressed the primary issues you have to move on and the demand of the modern world, and our people require that we do this, so we have been preparing a new strategic plan for the period 2008-2012, and the key areas of this strategic plan are: equity, people-centred, quality health services, and there should be accountability in the provision in health care services.”
According to President Jagdeo this has been government’s mandate since its ascension to office, with major emphasis placed on the health sector.  He emphasized that this is evident with the advance of technology, human resource development and improvement in the infrastructure for service delivery.
However, despite all government’s endeavours, service delivery is often found lacking – whether deliberately in attempts to derail government’s development initiatives, or mere incompetence, which caused President Jagdeo to vent his frustration during a Berbice outreach last year, saying that he has been advised that all is well in the sector.
Subsequently there has been even greater efforts to improve on service delivery, with Minister Bheri Ramsarran, whose portfolio accords him purview over regional hospitals, taking a personal and proactive approach to improving patient care and overall infrastructural facilities in farflung health institutions countrywide.
One of the interventions that he made at the Diamond Hospital was to restructure the administration, which saw young Kevin Mana installed as CEO of that facility effective from 16 May 2011.
Kevin, who is as results-oriented as the Minister under whose watch he works, immediately began making requisite changes to improve the comfort level of those seeking the services being provided at the hospital; and within this relatively short period the results are tangible and highly visible.
Although staffed mainly by Cuban specialists, whose impeccable English sometimes result in a communication problem because of the vernacular spoken by the local population, the quality of healthcare delivery is of maximum standard.
Even before reaching the doctors the patient receives optimal and timely attention from friendly and extremely helpful receptionists Lainie Lord and Lorraine Bowman.  The nurses are also extremely courteous and helpful, and their CEO said that they are very skilful professionals who “give very nice injections.”
The Diamond Hospital, which was established at a cost of $120M, is the first of its kind to be constructed on the East Bank Demerara and is part of the Cuba/Guyana partnership to improve the local health sector.
“I would like to express deepest appreciation to the Cuban government for the support they have given us throughout…It has been a long-standing support, especially in the medical field. Today this support has been significantly enhanced and I am sure that with the presence of Cuban medical personnel here, and their infusion in the health sector, this will give a significant impetus to our ability to deliver better health care services throughout Guyana,” President Jagdeo had said during the commissioning ceremony.
Government had facilitated the construction of the staff quarters in the hospital’s compound to house the 28-member Cuban medical team.
The hospital’s diagnostic centre offers a range of services, such as laboratory, orthopaedics, counselling, intensive care, haematology, x-ray and ultra-sound, dental care, obstetrics and gynaecology, primary cardiac tests, eye-testing with primary treatment, 24 hour ambulatory services, an intensive care unit and an operation theatre, among other services that are continually being introduced as resources become available.
President Jagdeo said that the hospital will support the administration’s plan to make the community into a township.
“It was badly needed because the Georgetown Hospital served as the regional hospital for Region 4…so this will take some pressure off of Georgetown, but it will also support our plan for this community, which is to create a township here – a new housing scheme and the old one, so there will be a minimum of 35,000 to 40,000 people living in this area. We have built a new secondary school, police station and, recently, we sold a piece of land to open up a Bank,” President Jagdeo had said while outlining government’s developmental plans for the area.
In addition to the general medical out-patient department, the hospital, which is a referral facility, has been built with the capacity to deal with emergency cases, such as accidents or gunshot wounds. The very critical cases will, however, be referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
The Head of State said while every Guyanese are subject to receive timely service, there is need for more educational programmes to address the sometimes impractical demands of the people.
“Much of the problems we have are because of lack of information and people feeling that we are not meeting their expectation of what healthcare services should be, but sometimes these expectations are unrealistically high, because in the developed world they cannot be met: for example, the waiting time. In the United States of America the waiting time is two hours in an emergency room, and it ranges from seven hours in some States.”
He said that in Guyana, when people are not attended to within an hour, they complain.
Cuban assistance to develop Guyana’s health sector wa finalised between Presidents Bharrat Jagdeo and Fidel Castro during a three-day visit to Cuba by President Jagdeo in February of 2006.
The National Health Sector Strategy 2008 – 12 is guided by the values and principles outlined in the National Development Plan and Poverty Reduction Strategy, which were formulated by then Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo and a highly-motivated team under the guidance of Executive President Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
CEO Mana said that, currently, the Diamond facility is fully equipped and adequately staffed to service the primary needs of patients, with requisite referrals made to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (HPHC) whenever the need arises.
Also, patients needing additional eyecare is provided transportation to and from the National Opthalmology Hospital in Port Mourant as many times as the need arises.
All medical care and drugs are provided free of cost.  The impeccably-clean East Bank medical facility at Diamond that is staffed by extremely kind, courteous and helpful personnel – at all levels, is a prime example of the successes of government’s commitment to equitable healthcare provision to the nation, as adumbrated in every PPP/C Manifesto.
(References for commissioning ceremony sourced from GINA)