THE government is looking at upgrading Guyana’s healthcare system so that each Guyanese, irrespective of their locality, can benefit from world-class healthcare services.

Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, during an interview on Friday last, disclosed that the government will be investing around $400 to $500 million on public infrastructure alone, to facilitate the upgrading of the healthcare system.

This could see some six new hospitals being constructed across the country, including a new state-of-the-art children and maternal hospital, new psychiatric hospital, and upgrades to the existing health facilities, Jagdeo said.

“We’re working on the plans now,” he related, while highlighting that healthcare is “crucial” for the nation. He explained that the aim is to ensure Guyanese in Essequibo, Linden or Berbice can have access to quality services, and without having to travel to Georgetown for those services.

“We are not just looking at access, but quality of care,” the Vice-President said, noting that the government is looking at procuring quality equipment, which is built to last, from well-known manufacturers.

In November this year, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, along with Vice-President Jagdeo and Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony met with an executive team from the renowned New York-based Mount Sinai Health System at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, where discussions centred on the modernisation of Guyana’s healthcare system.

In New York, the hospital network is structured around eight hospital campuses, and includes more than 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians, and 13 ambulatory surgical centres.

The visiting delegation included Mount Sinai’s international President, Szabolcs Dorotovics; Senior Vice-President of Medical Affairs Richard Amiraian; Executive Vice-President Arthur A. Klein; and Manager Amar Dhanraj.

“One of the most sophisticated investments the country needs to make in its people is healthcare, and we are here to work with the President in defining a plan in the development of more sophisticated healthcare, also healthcare access improvement; what we can do not only in Georgetown, but in the rest of the country,” Dr. Klein said at the meeting.

UPGRADING HEALTH SECTOR LEGISLATION
Since assuming office in August 2020, the government has already taken steps to upgrade the legislation governing the health sector. The government has since presented the Human Organ and Tissue Transplant Bill to the National Assembly, a revolutionary piece of legislation to enable organ transplantation in the country.

If passed in the National Assembly when it comes up for debate this week, the legislation will provide the regulatory framework which will enable Guyana to perform cadaveric transplantation. This is the transplant of tissue from brain-dead individuals, or cadavers as they are referred to, to living persons.

“This legislation is very significant for the entire country in terms of everyone who has kidney failure,” Dr. Kishore Persaud, Head of Department, Multi-Organ Transplant and Vascular Access Surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) told the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment last week.

Earlier in the year, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony related that several pieces of legislation tailored for the enhancement and modernisation of the public health sector have been submitted to Attorney-General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, for revision.

“We have identified about 21 pieces of legislation that we would want to look at. Some of them are existing legislation that would have been quite dated; some going back to 1934 and beyond. And so, a lot of those things have no relevance in what we do currently, but, nevertheless, they are on the books, and they are quite outdated,” Dr. Anthony said.

The Antibiotics Act is also up for revision. Dr. Anthony had explained that there are many provisions within the said legislation that are no longer in use, and the government is looking to develop a Pharmaceutical Act that would look at the current types of medication that are in use.

On request from the Medical Council of Guyana, the Medical Practitioners Act is on the list to be amended. The Council requested that aspects of the Act be revised to allow for the registration of specialisations, the minister explained. He also highlighted that legislation in relation to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is also being developed, as none currently exists.