-Health Minister says

HEALTH Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, along with President Dr. Irfaan Ali and other cabinet ministers, recently highlighted the significant strides being made in Guyana’s healthcare sector.

During an engagement with residents of Strathspey, East Coast Demerara, on Saturday, Dr. Anthony emphasised that the transformation of healthcare in the country is not centralised in major cities but is instead reaching every community. This progress is being driven by substantial investments aimed at improving healthcare infrastructure and services nationwide. The government’s efforts are focused on ensuring that people in all regions benefit from these developments, reflecting a more inclusive approach to healthcare.

Dr Anthony highlighted several key initiatives aimed at expanding healthcare accessibility, aligning with the government’s broader objective. One notable programme he cited was the eye testing and spectacles initiative, launched last year, which targeted both children and the elderly. This programme provided eye screenings, as well as spectacles for those in need.

Dr. Anthony further emphasised that the programme also addressed more serious eye conditions, such as cataracts. A list was created to ensure that individuals requiring cataract surgery would receive the necessary treatment. The initiative also extended to school children, particularly those 18 years and younger, who had eye issues.

The minister shared that the response to the programme was overwhelmingly positive, with more than 100 people taking advantage of the services offered, indicating the community’s strong engagement with these healthcare services.

“When the President spoke about interaction and working with communities, this is how we work with our communities. This is how we find people in our communities that need services.
“Prior to this, a programme like this did not exist, or you would have had to come to the hospital to be able to get this type of service. Instead, we are bringing this service into your community so that we can make sure that people are strong,” the Health Minister said.

Also, another very important programme that the President started is one that deals with school health, the Health Minister said.
Every single nursery school child is being screened, whether it is for eye, ear or dental issues and also given a general checkup, Dr Anthony explained.

If any issue is found, Dr Anthony said that these children are brought to the requisite facilities to get aid.
The Health Minister then said: “So it’s not waiting until the complications of these things develop. We’re actively going out, searching for the issues and fixing them.”

Last year, more than 20,000 nursery school children were screened. In addition, screening of primary school children started and more than 17,000 primary school children were screened.
The Health Minister also highlighted the big investment that the government is making in vaccines.

“For older people, of course, we want to make sure that if you got sugar, you got high blood pressure, that we can manage it properly…And, therefore, we can prevent people from getting complicated.”
Aside from those initiatives, the Health Minister turned his attention to the regional hospitals being built. He stated that progress is being seen throughout all communities.

“This is how this PPP/C government has worked. It’s all about investing in people, because we believe that our people are our greatest assets.”
For the East Coast residents, they would not have to travel all the way to the capital city, Georgetown, as there will be a state-of-the-art hospital at Enmore and a maternal and paediatric hospital at Ogle.
Outfitted with the most modern equipment and amenities, the soon-to-be-completed Enmore Hospital will serve scores of citizens along the East Coast Demerara corridor, providing 24-hour accident and emergency services, outpatient care, and advanced imaging services.

Several major infrastructures at the facility are nearing completion, and when operational, the hospital will feature 75 inpatient beds, a modern birthing room, and three operating rooms. The Health Minister explained that the facility will also have a maternity room and its own oxygen generation room, positioning it as a state-of-the-art medical facility.

This project is part of a larger $37.2 billion initiative by the Irfaan Ali-led administration aimed at modernising healthcare across Guyana. In 2022, the government signed contracts with China’s Sinopharm International for the construction of six new regional hospitals across five of Guyana’s 10 regions, with the aim of enhancing healthcare delivery nationwide.