-multi-million dollar contract for Public Health sector

AS government continues its push to increase access to education, plans are afoot to erect two new schools in hinterland communities, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, announced on Friday.

The minister was at the time speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing at the National Communication Network (NCN), Homestretch Avenue. According to him, the community of Baramita will have a new nursery school built there to the tune of $17.7M. The contract for the erection of this school was awarded to Mohamed Ramson Ali Khan Construction and the oversight body will be the Ministry of Communities.

Similarly, he announced that a new primary school will be built at Paruima in the Upper Mazaruni region, at a cost of $27.7M. The contract for this project will be awarded to B&S Contracting Services.
Also in public infrastructure, contracts were awarded for roads, drains, structures and for the installation of a pure water distribution network in several parts of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). One will be installed at Farm, East Bank Demerara (EBD) at a cost of $66M and will be done by Aaron Lall Civil Engineering works, while another will be done at Coven Garden, EBD by GuyAmerica Construction Inc. at a cost of $62M.

The Minister shared too that a $19.5M contract was also awarded to Meeco Services Deutschland GmbH for the supply and installation of five solar photovoltaic systems for the Ministry of Agriculture, National Agricultural Research and Extension institute, (NAREI), and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA).
Seeram’s Civil Engineering and Woodworking Company was also awarded a US$909,000 contract for the transportation of fuel and lubricants for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) for the period July – Dec 2017, in Regions Three, Four and Five.

Public Health
Meanwhile, several multi-million dollar contracts were awarded for the procurement of tools and equipment in the public health sector.

For the procurement of vaccines and syringes for the Maternal and Child Health Unit of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) was awarded a US$174,000 contract. Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc. was awarded another for the procurement of Becton Dixon reagents for the National Public Health Reference Laboratory, MoPH to the tune of $27.3M.

For the procurement of seismic reagents for the Standard and Technical Services department, MoPH, a US$154,154 contract was awarded to Western Scientific Company Ltd, while Eureka Medical Laboratory Inc. was awarded a $92M one for the procurement of reagents for the same department.

Contracts were also awarded to: Diamed Caribbean Inc. for the procurement of biokit and biorad reagents for the National Aids Programme Secretariat (NAPS), MoPH to the tune of US$94,000; Trans-Continental Medical Products Inc. for dengue test kits at a cost of $US86,000; and to PAHO for the procurement of vaccines for the maternal health, unit at a cost of US$112,000.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) test kits will also be procured for: the National Public Health Reference Laboratory by Trans Continental Medical Products Inc. for US$84,000; NAPS by Trans Continental Medical Products Inc. for US$117,000; and for the Standard and Technical Services department also by Trans Continental Medical Products Inc. for US$369,000.

According to Minister Harmon, the companies which were awarded contracts for the supply of the test kits and reagents are all authorised distributors of the items in Guyana and have been supplying these items to MoPH for a number of years. He said too that for syringes and vaccines, PAHO has been the sole supplier to Guyana for a number of years, through an arrangement where it [PAHO] supports the local vaccination programme by way of a revolving fund that ensures continuous supply and an option to pay after delivery.