Latest update December 11th, 2024 1:33 AM
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Public Health Ministry gets $40 million support from NGO
Minister Karen Cummings (centre) receives the donation from Dr. Abdel Bari. Also in photo is Hope for the Nation Secretary, Otillo Pereira.
The Ministry of Public Health was during the past week the recipient of a quantity of medical supplies and equipment compliments of the Hope for the Nation Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).
The donation said to be valued at some $40 million was handed over to Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, at a simple ceremony at the Ministry’s First Avenue, Diamond, East Bank Demerara bond.
Among the donated items were bed support rails, nasoenteric feeding tubes, syringes, paediatric manual resuscitators and fluid-dispensing connectors. According to Minister Cummings, “I am pleased that one of the Foundation’s main areas of focus is promoting health and fighting diseases. The equipment and supplies donated will go a long way in improving the delivery of health care services in Guyana”.
The Minister pointed out that continuously improving the quality of health care services nationally is a task which cannot be undertaken solely by Government.
For this reason she welcomed and commended the support provided by partners such as the Hope for the Nation Foundation.
The Minister asserted, too, that the Public Health Ministry, under the current administration, is committed to ensuring that health needs of all of its citizens are met.
Also speaking at the ceremony was President of the NGO, Dr. Abdel Bari, who said that the sizeable donation was in fact the entity’s first donation to the Ministry, but will certainly not be the last. Dr. Bari in his remarks spoke of the genesis of the NGO, pointing out that “the idea was there for a while. The idea was there to do something for Guyana.”
According to him, discussions were had with some persons residing overseas who visited for the Golden Jubilee celebrations. During the discussions it was found that Guyana is among the countries eligible for support from Cross International. Cross International is a charitable organisation that provides food, shelter medical care, water, education, self-help programmes, care for orphans and emergency relief to the poorest of the poor around the world. Before long the Foundation was born and forged a strategic partnership with Cross International.
Although the organisation, which is headquartered at Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, has already started its operation it is yet to be officially launched, according to Dr. Bari. But he explained, “our objective is to work with governmental and non-governmental organisations…the scope is very big.”
An initiative the Foundation is already poised to embark upon, too, is to supply schools with breakfast. It also has its eyes set on reaching out to Amerindian communities.
But the primary intent of giving support to groups or communities, according to Dr. Bari, is to give them support to become independent. He therefore noted that the Chinese proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” is being fully embraced by the Foundation.
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