–as Guyana signs agreement with Northwell Health
GUYANA has signed an agreement with Northwell Health to manage its emergency medical services, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali has announced.
The Head of State made the revelation at a diaspora engagement on Tuesday evening in New York on the margins of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“We signed another agreement with Northwell, who will be implementing our emergency services, emergency medical services in Guyana, and they will be managing that service while we build the capacity over the next three years,” the President said.
Guyana is undergoing a significant transformation marked by major infrastructure projects, rapid growth in oil production, and progressive health and education policies.
He highlighted the government’s focus on improving health services nationwide, including renovated facilities with additional rooms and Wi-Fi, improved availability of medication, enhanced ambulance services, and expansion of diagnostic services like CT scans and ultrasounds.
There is a strong push for decentralising healthcare with training for 10,000 healthcare workers, investment in telemedicine, digital patient records, and advanced emergency response systems.
Six new regional hospitals were commissioned recently, with plans already underway to build more state-of-the-art facilities.
“We are building a world-class healthcare system. We are partnering with the best in the world, including Mount Sinai Hospital, Northwell Health. We’re building 12 new state-of-the-art hospitals. We’ve already commissioned regional hospitals in Berbice, Essequibo, East Coast, East Bank and West Demerara, and we’re upgrading facilities across all 10 regions,” the President said.
Guyana’s partnership with Northwell Health and Mount Sinai Health System is focused on transforming and modernising the country’s healthcare system through collaborations in nursing support, telemedicine, emergency healthcare, oncology, and training programmes.
Northwell Health, a major US healthcare provider based in New York, has had a formal relationship with Guyana since 2021.
After taking office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government launched an ambitious programme to revamp healthcare delivery across the country.
This saw the building of 12 new hospitals, to which six have already been commissioned at Lima Sands (Region two), De Kinderen (Region Three), Diamond (Region four), Enmore (Region four), Bath (Region five) and No. 75 (Region six), all equipped to provide 24-hour emergency services, modern laboratories, advanced imaging suites, and fully-equipped operating theaters.
A teaching hospital is also being constructed at New Amsterdam in Region Six, while a Paediatric and Maternal Hospital is under construction at Goedverwagting on the East Coast of Demerara.
The aim of this G$31.9 billion investment is to enhance healthcare outcomes for women and children, featuring a 256-bed, Level-Five facility designed for high-risk mothers and newborns.
Other facilities such as community health centres and specialised clinics have seen massive upgrades too.