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Guyana foots $97M bill to prepare for Indian Hospital
The Government of Guyana has green-lighted some $97M for the site preparation of a specialty hospital to be constructed at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, but it leaves more questions than answers.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday announced that the contract for the site development at Turkeyen has been approved.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo had announced the Specialty Hospital and said that it stemmed from a Government of India grant and it is expected that the facilities when completed will be staffed by Indian nationals.
Questioned yesterday on why the money was being provided by the Guyana government, the government spokesman said that there might have been a misunderstanding and he does not believe that it was a grant that was identified.
As a matter of fact, he said, the ExIm Bank of India has made available and approved the funding at concessionary terms- in which case it is not a grant.
He explained that the money provided by the Indians was exclusively for the construction of the hospital. The preparation of the site would entail a different arrangement, he said.
The preparation would include proper drainage and other amenities.
“That $97M would go toward the land preparation, enclosures and bringing in the utilities facilities- water, roads and such like- that would be needed for a specialty hospital to operate to its fullest potential.”
When asked why a US$20M hospital Guyana investment would be fully staffed by Indians, Dr. Luncheon said that he agrees that the construction costs should be borne by the Indians.
“The construction has to be seen as different from the site preparation.”
Dr. Luncheon suggested that if the Guyana Government were to be offering the Indians facilities in central Georgetown with existing infrastructure then the development of the site would have been a minimal cost.
He said that given that the hospital will be constructed on almost virgin land in Turkeyen, “significant work will have to be done to raise the level of the land, to bring in the water mains with roads and lights and such like.”
As such Dr Luncheon said that there will be a cost that the Guyana Government will have to bear.
In February this year, Jagdeo and then Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran who is now the substantive Minister, visited India to finalize the agreement to construct 250-bed hospital.
When completed, the hospital will be providing services including cardio-related and cosmetic surgeries and organ transplant. Construction is anticipated to commence by the first quarter of 2012.
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