THE new $50M school building of the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre at 131-132 Carmichael Street, Georgetown was yesterday commissioned with the authorities promising to continue looking after those who suffer with disabilities.President Donald Ramotar attended the ceremony, as did Education Minister, Priya Manickchand and Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh.
Officials of the centre, including Chairman of the Management Board, Colonel (retd) Randy Storm, were also in attendance.
Government provides the centre with an annual subvention and the services of professional staff, while the board raises funds locally and internationally to finance operations of the centre.
Moreover, donations from numerous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) constitute a main source of funding from the private sector and the public at large.
The services of the centre currently include providing dormitory, day care, audiology, special education, vocational training, occupational speech, and physiotherapy, besides orthotic and prosthetic appliances.
President Ramotar gave assurance of Government’s commitment to advance Guyana so that the country can realise its true potential. Government’s main objective, he noted, is to lift the quality of life of every citizen in the country. The President said the most important factor of development in a country is not its natural resources, but its people. For this reason, he said, more than 30 percent of the budget goes to the social sector.
Guyana, according to him, is the only country in the Region that designates such a huge amount to this particular sector.
The President said that, with the limited resources available, a lot of emphasis is being placed on education in Guyana. This is because the countries enjoying the greatest levels of development are the ones with the most educated populations.
Minister Manickchand observed that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has done well in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable groups in the country. The Government, she noted, has done specific things; for example, in addressing the needs of senior citizens and children.
Minister Manickchand said the character of people can be measured by the way they treat the most vulnerable in society. She said Government understands what constitutes vulnerability, and has been fulfilling its promise to remove vulnerability from the people.
She also promised that Government’s commitment would continue to be fulfilled.
Minister Dr Ashni Singh said the centre, which receives funds from Government and a number of NGOs, represents an outstanding partnership in work and in pursuing social objectives. He said this is the 47th year since the centre has been providing services to the country.
Dr Singh said there is no shortage of good causes to support, and hence at times it is challenging for the authorities to decide which project to support. But
this $50M of Government’s investment, he noted, is a good choice.
The minister said Government believes that every Guyanese should be afforded opportunity to realise their full potential.
Commenting on the new facility, he said it is one that meets international standards, and one that can withstand comparison with any other institution of its kind.
He concluded his brief remarks by noting that a bright and prosperous Guyana is inevitable under the PPP Civic.
The Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre was originally established by the Ministry of Health in January 1967 as the Polio Centre. It provided rehabilitative services for those children who had suffered residual paralysis following the 1960 and 1964 polio epidemics.
With the advent of a successful vaccination programme, the incidence of polio declined drastically, and the centre has since opened its doors to persons with other forms of disability.
In 1991, in an effort to improve resource acquisition in order to expand and provide quality service more effectively and efficiently, the centre was delinked from the Ministry of Health, and is now managed by a Voluntary Management Board of Directors.
