Ramsaran charges Opposition with bigotry, misinformation
MINISTER of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, on Thursday evening, charged the Opposition with bigotry and attempting to send the wrong message to the Guyanese public. Speaking in the National Assembly during the continuing debate on the 2012 national budget, he said his major focus was to clear up misconceptions with regard to the health sector that came under tremendous criticism by the Opposition from the start of the sittings.
Ramsaran said, while the Health Ministry has done well, particularly during challenging periods, some things were achieved but may have gone unnoticed.
He credited the turnaround in the sector to the Finance Ministry, which has contributed greatly to infrastructure that has laid the foundation for the achievements.
In response to the claim by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP), Aubrey Norton, that nothing has been done in the sector and it is in a state of deterioration, Ramsaran cited the investment in the first wave of health infrastructure, which focused on Diamond, Leonora, Suddie, Mahaicony, Mabaruma and Lethem hospitals, and the Ophthalmology Centre at Port Mourant.
Dr. Ramsaran said the infrastructural flagship investment for the second wave of improvement will be the Specialty Hospital to be built, not far from the University of Guyana (UG), just a few minutes out of the city.
According to him, the budget has made special provision of $672M for that hospital and it is through the joint effort of the Government of Guyana and India, with a line of credit from the latter.

CRITICAL FACILITY
He informed that the institution is going to be a key and critical facility since many persons have sought medical treatment overseas, costing the administration financially.
“It is for that reason the administration has decided to build the hospital,” he said, crediting the project to former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
Ramsaran, in further clarification on the undertaking, revealed that Bovell Construction Services, of Albouystown, Georgetown, a small but growing Guyanese company, won the bid to begin site preparations which have already started.
He chided the Opposition for telling the nation, through the National Assembly, that the government had spent $29M to clear the land.
Ramsaran stated that works had recently been hampered by rain and the Atlantic Ocean overtopping along sections of the East Coast Demerara. But, up to March 15, 10 per cent of the site preparation had been done, including, the building of fences, digging and excavating of internal and external drains and the erection of sturdy bridges.
The minister also upbraided his opposite colleagues for imparting wrong information to the nation, without knowing the facts and being unwilling to make themselves knowledgeable of them.
Responding, again, to Norton, who said that India has funded the proposed hospital, Ramsaran recalled that when, in the recent past, with the assistance of Cuba, five hospitals were constructed in Guyana and manned by approximately 70 Cubans, there was no concern expressed that the benefactors were going to colonise Guyana.
But, when India provided the finance for the state-of-the-art hospital, in a display of bigotry, the question was posed about why the Indians had to build it, the minister said.
Ramsaran added that it could be misconstrued to mean anti-India and was an adverse lapse in judgement.
He added that the investments in infrastructure will go hand in hand with others, such as the training of technical staff to man the Specialty Hospital and other health facilities.