…as $25.2B approved by Committee of Supply
THE Committee of Supply of the National Assembly on Thursday evening approved over $25.2B for the Ministry of Public Health which caters for the ample provision of drugs and supplies and the of construction and resuscitation of several health institutions.

Off the bat, regarding the rental of buildings under Policy Development and Administration costing some $165M, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Frank Anthony questioned Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, on whether this catered for the medical supplies and drugs bonds at Sussex Street and Princes Street.

In response, Lawrence said that it is public knowledge the ministry is no longer renting the Sussex Street facility. She said she has no knowledge of the “Princes Street warehouse” as referenced by the MP.

Anthony also laid questions relating to the storage of drugs at the Ocean View Hotel during which, the minister notified that the company has extended its social responsibility by offering the ministry a space to keep some of its supply items free of cost.

When the opposition MP questioned whether the rooms there meet certain standards for the holding the items, Lawrence affirmed same, further clarifying that contrary to his belief, there were no damages incurred to the items stored at the location.

399 benefit from health care assistance
She then provided a detailed list of the buildings being rented by the ministry. On another topic, Lawrence announced that a total of 396 Guyanese patients including two ministers have benefitted from overseas treatment while the ministry is hoping to facilitate a total of 500 individuals in 2019. Later, under line item Subsidies and Contributions to International Organisations which was allotted $62M, Anthony questioned what benefit will Guyanese derive from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Lawrence said that the government and people of Guyana will benefit from various workshops and training; technical assistance and scholarships. On Thursday, she also provided an update on the progress of the formulation of the Tobacco Legislation Council to be set up to regulate the smoking of tobacco in the country. The public health minister noted that to facilitate the process, the ministry must first commence an education programme for awareness on the issue and later set a time frame for when the penalties will be instituted.

Currently, the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the council is being worked on and before the end of 2018 the document will go to Cabinet for approval to be ready for implementation in January 2018. Switching focus to the $438M capital expenditure allocated for Ministry of Health buildings, Anthony questioned how much would go towards consultancy services and the ministry’s head office which is currently under construction.

Lawrence was able to provide the figures which detailed that out of the amount, some $150M will go towards the building which is currently at phase one, while $20M had been set aside for consultancy services. Regarding the Food and Drug state-of-the-art laboratory to be constructed for the first time in Guyana, Lawrence said that out of the aforementioned sum of $438M, $210M will go towards this project.

In 2019, the tender process will begin for the lab and by the end of the first half of 2019 the government will be breaking ground for the project.
On the topic of disease control regarding drugs and medical supplies, out of the $1.1B allocated, Lawrence said that $341M will go towards the HIV drugs programme with the remainder going towards the National Public Health Reference Laboratory.

Questioned by the opposition on whether the sum would be adequate for the year, Lawrence said that it is the ministry’s estimation that it will be but reminded that if inadequate the ministry has the ability to return to the House for additional funds for drugs like Antiretroviral (ARV).
Earlier in November the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) had reported that Guyana is closer to meeting its UNAIDS 90–90–90 target as 86 per cent of all people living with HIV now know their status.

In addition, 74 per cent of those diagnosed are receiving sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART) while 65 per cent of those on ART have achieved viral suppression.
Sticking to the topic of health, Guyanese MP Gail Teixeira asked whether subsidies for dialysis patients would be resumed in 2019 but Lawrence corrected that the funding had never ceased but in fact, since 2016, allocations for the same have increased.

With expenses for these patients still increasing, Lawrence said that the ministry, in the new year, will seek to address how services in this regard can be expanded to persons outside of Georgetown. Lawrence announced, too, that out of $16.5M allocated to Family Health Care Services for local organisations, $10M will go to the Salvation Army while the remaining $6.5M will go to the  Phoenix Recovery Project (PRP).

The ministry will also be working to resuscitate the Cancer Society in 2019 while the sum of $27M will go towards the purchasing of drugs for HIV/Tuberculosis /Malaria Programmes from a $250M total funded by the Global Fund.