GOVERNMENT has been building, constructing and facilitating a growing Guyana, and there is now an air of expectation of good things happening and better things to come with the recent budget presented before the National Assembly.

This is according to PPP/C Member of Parliament, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo, who contributed to the 2023 budget debate on Monday.

“The hardships of the PNC, AFC and APNU is known to everyone in and out of Guyana, but the people of Region Six were particularly aimed at and felt the destructive force in every facet of life whether it be agriculture, drainage and irrigation, healthcare, education delivery, employment, amongst others,” Dr. Mahadeo said.

In giving an example, he said the loss of thousands of jobs and the closure of GuySuCo estates without any plan for alternative employment or sources of income for families, along with the non-functioning National Ophthalmology Hospital, caused tremendous hardship for those depending on those facilities.

Dr. Mahadeo, who represents Region Six, noted that 2022 was a good year for Guyana and his region.

“Residents of Region Six see their leaders coming to their villages and towns, walking the streets, from the Chairman, Vice Chairman, President, Vice President, the Prime Minister, ministers and MPs and they can share their concerns and suggestions directly with them. And, Mr. Speaker, they can get live photographs with live people and not cardboard men,” Dr. Mahadeo said.

Further, he said to assist unemployed persons, 4,000 part-time jobs were created in Region Six and persons were allowed to educate themselves through GOAL scholarships.

He explained that the current government, unlike the APNU, will not tell young people that government is not responsible for job creation.

“We will empower our young people, we provide opportunities for them to grow, to study and learn.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Mahadeo, who is also Director-General of the Ministry of Health, said in the health sector within Region Six, specialist outreaches were regularly done at all health centres, orphanages and geriatric homes.

“Mr. Speaker, the home-based care programme which started in 2009 and which was going very well and which was stopped by the APNU government in 2015 has restarted,” he said.

The elderly care programme that was discontinued, he added, has now expanded to Regions Two, Three, Six and Nine, and a total of 6,300 geriatric patients benefitted from the programme across the region.

“Our elders not only get an increase in pension, help with water and electricity bills but they also are getting special and specialised healthcare,” he emphasised.

Additionally, Dr. Mahadeo said that the management of the National Ophthalmology Hospital at Port Mourant, has improved and continues to improve as confidence is growing in the healthcare system since government has increased salaries across the board for healthcare workers.

He explained that the building has since been refurbished, and surgeries will commence soon, with laser surgeries for the eyes being offered. Cataract patients and retina patients also now have access to laser therapy along with ultrasound for patients with bleeding at the back of the eye.

In 2022, a total of 1,769 surgeries were done at the hospital which had not done “surgeries in the years prior to that.”

He said in Regions One and Nine, nursing assistants and other health-related workers are being trained for the first time in the country and there has been a significant increase in health workers countrywide.

According to him, primary healthcare is now 100 per cent better in terms of services and diagnosis.

In Region Nine, he added that health workers carried out specialist outreach visits at every health facility.

“In Region Nine, we screened 60 patients and we brought them out. We got their surgeries done at the National Ophthalmology Hospital and we took them back, including members from the Opposition and relatives,” he told the House.

Further, he said: “Out of the 50 health facilities in Region One, I visited 44 with health team specialists and I visited 53 out of 57 health facilities in Region Nine. It was the first time ultrasounds were offered in the hinterland regions, and pregnant women in Regions One and Nine had access to ultrasound in their communities for the first time.”

Acknowledging that the pilot telemedicine project in Region Nine has resulted in better patient care from those communities, Dr. Mahadeo said specialists’ consultations were provided in clinics and emergency cases were promptly handled.

He said there have been improvements in storage capacity for drugs and medical supplies, thereby reducing spoilage and damaged goods.

Dr. Mahadeo noted that there has been significant success in the medical care of citizens countrywide and the testimonies will speak for itself.

“Mr. Speaker, betrayal of trust is never a good thing. When an individual is betrayed, that individual loses trust and faith in the person who betrayed the individual. Mr. Speaker, our nation was betrayed when they put their trust in the APNU+AFC. The good life promised was a good life for the few in the hierarchy of the party and government. The nation was betrayed and will not trust this group again,” he said.