IN order to ensure doctors and nurses have safe and comfortable housing, a staff quarters facility in Yupukari Village was officially opened by Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, during his visit to Region Nine on Friday.
With funding made available by the government, through Region Nine’s Regional Democratic Council (RDC), the staff quarters facility was constructed to the tune of $14 million.

The newly built facility comes with a solar power system that can power it and house two medical personnel and their families.
Dr Frank Anthony, who is responsible for the health sector, explained that around $100 million was set aside to upgrade all health facilities in the Rupununi region. Another $100 million was earmarked for Region Nine to build facilities to accommodate medical staff in villages.

“We also recognise that if we put down a health post or centre, sometimes the staff is not necessarily from the village, which makes it a problem because they don’t have anywhere to stay and we took a decision that we must build good staff quarters so that persons who are not from the village will be able to use those quarters,” Dr Anthony explained.
Meanwhile, Yupukari is expected to benefit from an ambulance in 2024 that will also serve the satellite villages in times of emergencies.

He highlighted, “In the regional budget, we’ll make an allocation to buy an ambulance. Now, if we get that when the final budget comes out, then certainly we’ll buy that ambulance for your community but I am sure it will benefit other surrounding communities.”
The village is also benefitting from other government initiatives including the telemedicine system that is being piloted within the village.

Youths were also urged to take advantage of the various training programmes being offered by the Ministry of Health, as the government seeks to build out the health infrastructure into a world-class health system.
Minister Anthony was accompanied by Regional Chairman, Brian Allicock, Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Cerdel Mcwatt, and Ministry’s Hinterland Coordinator, Michael Goveia, among other personnel.