WITH the objective of enhancing healthcare accessibility, the Guyana government has set aside funds in the 2024 fiscal plan for the establishment of special healthcare vouchers for pensioners and children.

In his Budget 2024 presentation to the National Assembly on Monday, Dr. Ashni Singh, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance disclosed that the government will persistently invest in improving health service access and promoting eye care for school children and pensioners. A budget of over $840 million has been allocated to provide a $3,000 voucher for an eye test to over 205,000 school children and 76,000 pensioners.

Furthermore, Dr. Singh revealed the availability of a $15,000 voucher for those who require spectacles, which will be funded at a cost of $955 million. In total, this intervention adds up to $1.8 billion.

In a live broadcast following the presentation of the country’s largest fiscal package of $1.146 trillion to the National Assembly, President Dr Irfaan Ali said that the budgetary measure brings parity of service between the minimum thresholds of health care services that must be available to all the citizens of the country.

“This is an amazing measure of budget 2024. When we campaigned, we said we want people to live in dignity. Our pensioners and our children must have equity and access… We are keeping true to this promise.”

“We have sat down with all the local providers of this service, and the cost of an eye test is $3,000 to check your vision. Every pensioner, every schoolchild will get a voucher for $3,000 to go and check their eyes… We are talking here about 205,000 school children and 76,000 pensioners.”

Meanwhile, the President disclosed that a special mechanism will be established to deal with children and pensioners in the hinterland and riverine areas.

“This measure would cost almost $1 billion outside of this. And as you can see, this measure is also targeted at supporting the investment our private sector individuals are making in the health care system; building up their capacity, and we are showing confidence in their investment by allowing our children and pensioners to cash this voucher at any facility in the programme that is doing it for this $3, 000,” he explained.

The investment, he reiterated, builds out a system that supports the welfare and well-being of citizens.

“Taking care of the eye health of our children and our pensioners is an investment of about $2 billion getting all our children, bringing parity, bringing parity of service and giving them a choice to choose between the public or private entity where they want to go and test their eyes. That is what builds equality,” the Head of State said.