GPHC commissions $1.6B In-patient facility

Nov 22, 2011 News

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Bed-sharing at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is expected to be a thing of the past with the highly commissioning of its multi-million dollar in-patient facility yesterday.
With pomp and fanfare, the state of the art facility, said to be valued at $1.6 billion was commissioned. The facility comes as part of the efforts to help enhance the delivery of health care.
The realization of the facility which was under construction for the past three years represents a collaborative effort between the government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) aimed at improving health care.
The GPHC had come under much flack in the past for its service delivery, including its limited capacity to adequately accommodate patients, a trend officials believe will be effectively reversed with the new facility.
After ceremoniously unveiling the plaque and cutting the ribbon to officially commission the facility, President Bharrat Jagdeo assured that more resources will be dedicated to the health sector to ensure that only the best quality care is made available.
He pointed out that as the country progresses economically so too will the capacity to expand the delivery of health care. “I anticipate that this will continue to happen but it is not just about building new buildings, it is about good policies and what happens with the agencies themselves.”

The President urged the hospital administrators to ensure that they focus on patient-friendly care and accountability. “First of all value for money; we have to make sure that in a country like ours  that we get the maximum value for every dollar that we spend, particularly in health care.”
The new facility, according to Chief Executive Officer Michael Khan, has a 202-bed capacity including isolation rooms.  All rooms, he said, are outfitted with individual oxygen, vacuum and compressed air outlets.
Thus far there are eight isolation rooms for patients with communicable diseases, four quiet rooms for grieving relatives or those who wish to offer prayers, public washroom facilities and service elevators for transporting patients.  The lobby area, according to Khan, will soon be furnished with comfortable seating and entertainment set for visitors.
The second flat, he explained, currently accommodates the female medical and surgical wards, while the first flat will soon house the male medical and surgical wards. The bottom flat will accommodate the physiotherapy department.
Plans for another in-patient ward will soon be added when funds become available, the CEO said.
The state of the art design of the facility entails a nurses’ call in system characterized by the set-up of a microphone at each bedside allowing for patients to speak directly to a nurse. So patient friendly is the facility that if a patient needs a nurse while he/she is in the bathroom he/she can simply pull on a cord and a signal is sent to the nurses’ station.
Additionally, the building is outfitted with an intercom system where doctors can be called or announcements can be made.
“With this new, spacious and modern facility, patients can be assured that the problem of bed-sharing will no longer exist,” Khan confidently asserted. Moreover, he noted that the ambience of the facility coupled with the improved quality of care with modern equipment is likely to see speedy recovery of patients.
And according to Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the facility is certainly not a political gimmick. “Like the rest of the public health sector…it does not serve a particular group of us, it certainly does not serve the people of one political party, or one ethnic group or one religious group or one geographical area.”
“Our health sector serves the people of Guyana and our guests and it serves us when we need the service at our most vulnerable moment.”
He said that the commissioning of the facility represents a signal of what is envisaged of the physical health structure of Guyana to be in the future even as he alluded to the deplorable state which had characterized the public health facility many years ago.
Intended to help bolster the service offered by the health sector, IDB Operations Specialist, Leslie-Ann Edwards, said that the IDB has continued to work with the Government of Guyana over the years to support the far-reaching infrastructural development and institutional reforms that contribute to both the quality of health care delivery and patient care and wellbeing.
“The construction of this state of the art in-patient facility here in Georgetown was one of the key investment activities under the health sector reform programme funded by the IDB and executed by the Ministry of Health,” Edwards said.
She added that the reform programme which started in 2005 was closed in June of this year. Other support from the IDB was also plugged into the construction of the Linden Hospital Complex which was commissioned in December 2009, all aimed at improving the institutional capacity of the health sector.
Edwards further reaffirmed the commitment of IDB to support the development of the health sector yesterday adding that “we welcome further opportunities to deepen our relationship in this area.”

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