IN the ongoing transformation of Guyana’s healthcare sector, President Dr Irfaan Ali has said that the government is looking to utilise new technologies as they become available.

The Head of State made this known during the signing ceremony for the extension of the Guyana’s National Healthcare Initiative partnership.

Dr Ali during his address stated that Guyana is looking to work with new technologies in Silicon Valley and is already eyeing technology to be the first end user of them.

One such he said deals with advancements being made in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed tomography (CT) scans to reduce radiation exposure in relation to conducting these tests.

“CT scans, as you know, you have to use CT scans very sparingly because of the exposure to radiation. Today, there is a new technology on the development… So, you can do it repeatedly, you can do it as much as you want, so that you can have more constant evaluation of changes,” he said.

This, he added is being developed to be much cheaper than CT scans by some of the same players who moved towards digital X-rays and this is where the world is going now.

The President said, “We’re going to associate ourselves with the best, we’re going after the best and we are going to apply those technologies here.”
Against this backdrop, he indicated that Guyana is going to make all the necessary investments in tandem with partners like Hess Corporation and Mount Sinai.

Further to this, Dr Ali added that Guyana is the sample pilot size that allows the country to be nimble in its approach and possibly win in every pilot.

“Because of our population size now, in many major initiatives, we can be considered a pilot size, and that is what allows that nimbleness in decision making, that nimbleness in management but none of this can succeed if we don’t build systems,” he said.

To this end, he said that building these systems is what ensures long-term success and that is what these partnerships are doing.

The President further noted that Guyana is the perfect test case for robotics, artificial intelligence and digitisation.

He stated, “We are that perfect sample size, but we are not settling to be a sample size. We’re embracing the most advanced technology today, so that in another two years, you will be in a healthcare system that would be almost paperless.”