Govt awards hospital contract to Austrian firm without tendering project

Jun 21, 2022 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana has, behind closed doors, approved and awarded a contract to an Austrian company, VAMED to construct a maternal and paediatric hospital at Ogle, East Coast Demerara, all without the approval and scrutiny of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
On Wednesday last the country’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo announced that the Austrian company had been awarded the contract for the works. He did not elaborate on the contract sum; neither did he provide other details pertaining to when the agreement was signed.

Contacted on the issue on Monday Adviser to the Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy confirmed with Kaieteur News that the project was not tendered for. In fact, he detailed that the contract is a “special” one. “This was a special project, a European Union (EU) project. It’s an Austrian firm that will do the work,” he shared. Ramsammy said he could not share the cost for the hospital to be constructed as this was still being negotiated. When the former health minister was asked to clarify what exactly he meant by “an EU project” and to clearly say whether the EU was funding the venture he said, “It is a European project. I am not sure where the funds coming from but it’s not the Guyana Government directly.”
Back in April during a government outreach to Dundee, Mahaicony in Region Five, Kaieteur News had questioned the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony on whether the project had gone to tender. He however said that the purpose of the visit was specifically to hear from residents and that details pertaining to the hospital would be shared at a later forum. Subsequent enquiries to the Minister’s office on the matter were unsuccessful.
On Sunday, Kaieteur News searched all of the contracts awarded for the year by the Ministry of Health and found no trace of the maternal and children’s hospital on the NPTAB website. According to the Procurement Act of Guyana, construction contracts above the cost of $20 million must be tendered. There have been instances in the past where Cabinet gave its no-objection for projects that are mostly considered ‘urgent’ in which the tender process is waived to allow for immediate action by the contractor.
Additionally, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) has been repeatedly calling on the government to recommence the hosting of post-Cabinet briefings, where matters such as these can be addressed easily, but since the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) returned to office, there has not been a single post-Cabinet press briefing by the President Irfaan Ali administration.
Nevertheless, documents on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website indicate that some 20,000 square meters of land have been set aside for the project which is intended to reduce maternal and child mortality rates in Guyana; improve access to quality diagnostic services; reduce the need for traveling outside of the region or internationally for health care, among others.
According to its website, VAMED is a global provider for hospitals and other facilities in the healthcare sector. The VAMED portfolio ranges from project development; planning and turnkey construction, via maintenance, technical, commercial and infrastructure services; to the total facility management of healthcare facilities.
The Project Brief seen by this publication, states that the hospital will have an Inpatient and Out-Patient service, General and Subspecialty Paediatric, General and Subspecialty Surgical, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Paediatric Intensive Care (PICU) and Step-Down Unit (SDU). It will also feature an Operating Suite, High- Risk Prenatal and Post-Natal Clinic, General and Subspecialty Paediatric and Surgical Clinics, Paediatric Emergency Room and an Immunization centre.
The institution will also include a Maternal section with its own Antenatal Ward, Birthing Suites, Operation Rooms, Post Natal Ward, Adult high dependency/critical care, Bereavement support, Antenatal Clinic for High-Risk patients, Pre-Natal Clinic with Ultrasound services, Post-Natal and a Clinic/ Neonatal Follow up Clinic.
Other services to be offered will include Radiology MRI, CT, X-rays, Laboratory, Pharmacy and several others. The Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh in his Budget speech said that $12.4 billion was allocated for the design and construction of the paediatric and maternal hospital as well as the upgrade of the West Demerara and Bartica regional hospitals, and the construction of six modern regional hospitals.

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