$881M modern nursing school to transform healthcare in Region Two

IN a significant stride towards enhancing healthcare services in Guyana, President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s administration has embarked on establishing a cutting-edge training facility for nurses in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
Dr. Ranjeev Singh, the Regional Health Officer (RHO) of Region Two, expressed staunch support for this initiative, hailing it as pivotal in bolstering the local healthcare infrastructure.
In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Dr. Singh underscored the transformative impact of the new facility, particularly for aspiring nurses from the region and nearby islands.
According to the Region Two RHO, “Even though we are faced with some challenges at the hospitals, the development in the region, specifically the health sector, has been rapidly moving apace. This new, modern training school is a game-changer for this region for many reasons, but one of the main ones is because our young people who want to join the profession would be able to get trained in the comfort of their own region.”

He continued: “This was one of the major problems that we were faced with, especially with our young women, but with the completion of this facility, I have no doubt that it will be a big boost to healthcare in the region as well as in the country. Our aim with this training school is to ensure that our current and upcoming hospitals, health centres, and health posts are fully equipped with adequately trained medical professionals.”
While foreign specialists are welcomed and appreciated by the government of Guyana, Dr. Singh emphasised the government’s dedication to ensuring that their own citizens possess a high level of expertise across all domains within the medical field. As with other sectors, the RHO has acknowledged the efforts of the Guyanese government, specifically the Ministry of Health, in striving to close the human resources gap, particularly in the healthcare industry.
“In terms of services, one of the great things that has happened is that we have decentralised our training. Just last year, we graduated a batch of 22 pharmacy assistants, and throughout the country on July 6, we will have the first batch of 46 nursing assistants who will be writing their exams. We are anticipating a 100 percent pass rate, and those persons can be incorporated into our system.”

“By the end of this year, we will also have another batch of students, one of which is a post-basic midwifery programme that will be concluded and the medical laboratory technician programme that is currently ongoing here at Suddie, and it will be completed at the end of this year as well,” the RHO explained.
Under the guidance of the President and his administration, the RHO has established a comprehensive plan to enhance their capabilities in the healthcare sector. They are procuring the essential tools and equipment required to effectively serve the nation’s population.
In January, Dr. Frank Anthony, the Minister of Health, emphasised the significance of the training facility for nurses in Region Two during the SOD turning ceremony, which cost $881 million.
According to him, “We are building a modern nursing school… The government of Guyana [and] the President are extremely pleased to situate this nursing school here because we know that it is going to be a game changer…We’re spending here $881 million to build this school so that you can have a modern training facility in Essequibo.”

Urging nurses to make use of the opportunity of being trained within their region and from the comfort of their homes, Minister Anthony said, “So, we know that we’ll be working very closely with the contractor, and he’s going to work to make sure that this is finished in time so that we can do the kinds of training that are necessary… so that we can have more and more qualified people in our healthcare system.”
Alongside the significant renovations taking place in the existing medical facilities within the region, the minister also announced the need for more nurses and medical experts to be trained in the country to support the construction of six new, state-of-the-art regional hospitals, as well as a specialised hospital for maternity and paediatrics, and other upcoming developments.

Speaking about the challenges of centrally teaching people, highlighting the need for a decentralised nursing curriculum, and explaining that not everyone can be taught in Georgetown; the minister also revealed that it can be difficult to get those with training to return to the regions to serve.
Minister Anthony said, “So, what the training division is now doing is decentralising the programmes so that training can happen in every region of the country, and that is quite important in your region. We have seen the training of pharmacy assistants. We have trained community health workers. We have trained nursing assistants, and we are going to continue doing a number of trainings.”

“When you build a school, it’s not being built for something today alone. It is the people who would come through that school and graduate and who would carry on the legacy that is what we’re building, we’re nurturing minds, and those minds are the ones who are going to provide the care that people need not just in this region but even for the field.”