…making dialysis much more affordable, says President Ramotar
THE Government of Guyana has been expending more than thirty percent of its budgetary allocation every year, for development of the social sector, and especially in the area of Health. This is according to President Donald Ramotar as he addressed the commissioning of the Renal Centre, the new addition to the Doobay Medical Centre, yesterday at Annandale on the East Coast Demerara.

Mr Ramotar said that such institutions can aid in the development of a robust and modernised health sector that delivers service at international standards.

The president, in his address, said he is confident that every sector would rapidly progress like the health sector, if political differences are set aside to meet the needs of people.

He said he always believed that “our political work should be in service of the people,” and this is reflected in the work of the current administration ever since it came into power in 1992.

“I am certain that we are probably the only country in this region that spends 30% of its budget on social services; more than 30% of expenditure goes directly to meeting needs of ordinary people in our country and this area is the biggest expenditure we have.”

According to him, this is so because the present government strongly believes that the most important factor to development is a country’s people.

The President congratulated the founders of the health centre and every person and organization that have made the Doobay Medical Centre what it is today.

Mr Ramotar reminded that, as opposed to previous years, persons are able to access services that have never been offered here in Guyana and for this he is pleased.

The president assured that plans are progressing successfully with regard to the establishment of the new Specialty Hospital that is being constructed at Liliendaal on the East Coast Demerara.

Meanwhile Health Minister Ramsaran, who also spoke at the commissioning, said that this initiative comes at a time when the administration is making every effort to consolidate and further build on the gains in this sector within the last few years.

According to the minister, ten 10 per cent of the annual budget is set aside for health in Guyana, and this has been evident through the significant improvements throughout the country.

“The past decade has seen significant improvements in our health sector and infrastructure; hospitals were constructed in the densely populated areas of our country…and modern hospitals have been constructed and fully equipped in the sparsely populated areas.”

According to Ramsaran, these constructions have positioned the government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Health, to realise its commitment to achieve access to these services for Guyanese, regardless of where they live.

Further, he commended the Ministry of Health for an accelerated approach that has been taken in ensuring that two specific areas in hospital have been enhanced.

“We have had problems with shortage of staff, and this was fixed; and also the relationship between the staff at the hospitals and the patients, and this has been improved.”

Dr.Budhendra Doobay, President of the Doobay Medical Centre, said the non governmental organization is focused on developing a rich mix of a public/private partnership between the centre and the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), which benefits both institutions.

“We want to make this place a teaching centre where we can manage diabetes, hypertension and so on; we are here to prevent dialysis; we want to have a government and private sector relationship, and we want to provide good health care for our Guyanese people,” he said.

He announced that in addition to the two centres, a new state-of-the –art laboratory will be established in the near future, to enhance the service being offered at the centers.

Patients at the centre have expressed satisfaction with the services being offered and noted they are pleased to be receiving treatment at home.

The centre, which was commissioned last September, was built at a cost of $25 million, with a mandate to provide dialysis to persons at an affordable cost.

The centre has brought the cost down to the amazingly low figure of US$75 or G$15,000 per dialysis session.

The registered non-profit organization, pioneered by Dr. Ram Doobay, Vic Oudit and others, is the result of collaboration among Canadian and Guyanese organisations and people who have made generous donations.