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Consortium bids US$7.5M to supervise construction of new hospitals
Kaieteur News – A consortium comprising of consultancy firms, Vikab Engineering Consultants Limited and Jain Consultant Guyana is now the lone bidder for the contract to supervise the construction of seven new hospitals, one of which is designated for children which the government intends to build this year.
This was revealed during the opening of tenders on Wednesday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) office. The bidder submitted a financial proposal of US$1,679,301 to supervise the construction of the six new regional hospitals and US$5,859,532 to oversee the construction of the paediatric and maternal hospital.
Vikab Engineering Consultants Limited and its associate were among five other firms that were competing to supervise the Ministry of Health projects. Kaieteur News reported that the other firms are E&A Consultants Inc., which submitted a bid for the six new hospital projects and RSV Structural Engineering in association with Alvair & APM, SRKN’gineering, H. Morrison & R. Woodtuck, and WSP Caribbean which bid for the maternal and children hospital contract.
It was reported that in this year’s budget, the health sector was allocated $73.2 billion, of which a total of $12.4 billion has been budgeted for the design and construction of a state-of-the-art pediatric and maternal hospital, upgrading of the West Demerara and Bartica regional hospitals, and the construction of six modern regional hospitals at Anna Regina, Tuschen, Diamond, Enmore, Bath and No.75 Village, Corentyne.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony during his budget debate presentation explained that the government’s intention to build these new facilities was based on the population size in those specific regions and that the people have easy access to healthcare services.
According to him, a hospital will be in Anna Regina because it is the most populated area in Region Two. “Why should they not have a hospital there? That is what we are addressing, so we will be putting that hospital in Anna Regina,” the minister had argued.
Similarly, he had said because villages like Tuschen and Parika in Region Three are becoming more populated, it was decided that another regional hospital would be built in that district so as to provide services for all.
As for Region Four, the Minister stated that two new regional hospitals will be built, one at Enmore and the other at Diamond. He highlighted that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has always been seen as the National Referral Hospital but sometimes it would be referred to as a regional hospital. “We want to change that. We want to ensure that Georgetown Public Hospital remains a National Referral hospital and does mostly the complicated cases,” he said.
Anthony mentioned that the decision to build a hospital at Bath Settlement in Region Five is because it is where the majority of the population in that region resides.
In addition to these new facilities, each one will be equipped with their own CT scans, digital X-rays, ultra sound machines and modernised laboratories and that all devices will be internet enabled, the minister asserted.
According to him, the reason behind all this “is that people would not have to travel from all parts of the country to come to Georgetown to get access to these things.” Meanwhile, regarding the maternal and child hospital, Dr. Anthony said it is to cater for all the high-risk mothers and children, so as to ensure they have access to specialised services.
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