Health sector gets $84.9B to cure declining healthcare access

Jan 17, 2023 News

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– Govt. talks up works on paediatric, maternal, six regional hospitals

Kaieteur News – Against the background of a recent spike in maternal and infant mortality and lack of access to quality healthcare here, government has budgeted some $84.9B for the health sector this year, promising to upgrade a number of facilities and advance infrastructural works for the paediatric and maternal hospital and six regional hospitals.

Speaking about the health sector yesterday as he presented the country’s budget pegged at $781.9B, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh said the administration is in the process of expanding both primary and tertiary healthcare, improving management systems across health facilities as well as deploying more medical personnel throughout the regions to ensure access to quality healthcare services for all.

Dr. Singh said these investments will help to reduce maternal mortality, which stands at an estimated 112 per 100,000 as at the end of 2022. “Reducing this incidence will be further aided by the training of 29 traditional birth attendants in Regions 1 and 9, and the purchase of over $250 million in related equipment and expanded training of healthcare providers in family planning. In 2023, we will launch several new initiatives, including one that aims at expectant mothers in the hinterland having at least one ultrasound, and is visited at least once by an obstetrician during her pregnancy. Additionally, screening for post-partum depression will be implemented countrywide.”

Meanwhile, Singh told the House on Monday that while the paediatric hospital will be a centre of excellence for maternal and paediatric care, the six regional hospitals is intended to decentralise modern healthcare into Lima, De Kindren, Diamond, Enmore, Bath, and No. 75 Village. An amount of $13.1 billion is allocated in Budget 2023.

“This Government is steadfast in our approach to continuously modernise our health sector infrastructure. In 2022, an amount of $11.9 billion was paid as mobilisation advance, and works were initiated for site preparations for six regional hospitals and a state-of-the-art paediatric and maternal hospital. Additionally, $92 million was spent to retrofit the Festival City Polyclinic, which, on completion, will provide dental, rehabilitation and laboratory services. A sum of $1 billion was also spent on the upgrade of the existing infrastructure of 258 health facilities across all regions – an investment made to facilitate improved patient experience,” Singh noted.

For this year, he promised that Guyanese will witness a vast transformation of infrastructure in the public healthcare system.  The Inter-American Development Bank in a recent report pointed out that Guyana is placed 126th out of 195 countries and next to last in the Caribbean, after Haiti when it comes to access to quality healthcare. Similarly, the IDB said Guyana also ranks 137th out of 195 in the global health security index and is particularly weak in early detection and reporting of epidemics, which came to attention with how the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bank said while the country has an extensive offer of primary healthcare through its numerous health posts and centres, hospital care is more constrained, with only 1.6 beds per 1,000 persons. The bank said this is lower than the averages in Latin America (2.2) and the Caribbean (2.3). Furthermore, the financial institution said the country also faces human resource limitations, with just 0.8 doctors and 1.0 nurses per 1,000 persons, far below the Latin American and Caribbean averages of 2.0 and 2.8, respectively.

Additionally, he said, this year government will commence the rehabilitation, expansion and reconstruction of the Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Linden hospitals, as well as four telemedicine centres in Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9. The latter are intended to be modern facilities that will deploy communication technology to facilitate real time, remote diagnosis and treatment, thereby bringing modern healthcare to remote indigenous communities. An amount of $1.8 billion is allocated in Budget 2023.

He said too that this year will see the completion of the design for and commencement of construction of the Bartica Regional Hospital. An amount of $830 million is allocated in Budget 2023. According to Singh, government will also retrofit and upgrade health centres, health posts, and other facilities across the country to the tune of $1 billion. The finance minister promised too, that the government will construct and rehabilitate health science training facilities in Regions 2 and 6 to the tune of $620 million; upgrade the Karasabai, Annai and Sand Creek health centres into district hospitals, providing radiology and laboratory services. An amount of $237 million is allocated in Budget 2023.

“Mr. Speaker, Government has been increasing our stock of medical and non-medical equipment and, in 2022, the sum of $2.1 billion was expended to enhance the quality of healthcare delivery. We will continue to increase this capacity with a further $2.5 billion being earmarked for purchases of equipment in 2023 across all 10 administrative regions. It is no small task to rectify what could only be described as a broken mechanism of pharmaceutical supply chain management. However, we have so far been able to put systems in place to better manage the country’s stock which is reflected in improved fulfillment of requests for drugs supplied by the Materials Management Unit (MMU) in 2022. These efforts, as well as increases in storage capacity, improved storage conditions for cold chain products, as well as the decentralised training of pharmacy assistants will support more effective pharmaceutical supply chain management. In 2023, MMU aims to fulfil over 80 percent of all requests made for drugs and medical supplies.”

Additional doctors

The finance minister said that since the PPP/C assumed office in August 2020, they have deployed an additional 52 doctors and 53 nurses to augment the existing complement in the hinterland regions. “Challenges in completion of theatre facilities and other logistical constraints affected placements in 2022 but additional deployment is expected in 2023. Importantly, for the first time in recent history, the residents of White Water, Shulinab and Monkey Mountain can now visit a resident doctor in their respective villages. In addition to the investment in health sciences training facilities, over $500 million is allocated this year for the training of healthcare professionals,” Dr. Singh stated.

Pic save as hospital

The New Amsterdam Hospital is one of the facilities that will benefit from the US$97M loan. IDB officials had found it in a deplorable state where mold was on the walls of the operating room.

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• Dr. Ashni Singh, Finance Minister, maternal, paediatric, six regional hospitals

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