$6.6B Diamond Regional Hospital commissioned

Jun 09, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – The state-of-the-art Diamond Regional Hospital, valued at $6.6 billion, was officially commissioned on Sunday.

The facility is located at Lot E, Great Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, and offers free healthcare services. This facility is the first of six regional hospitals to be commissioned as part of a broader initiative to enhance access to quality healthcare across Guyana. The project is a result of a partnership between the Government of Guyana and China’s Sinopharm International, aimed at modernising the country’s regional healthcare system. The agreement was signed in 2022, with construction beginning in 2023. The hospital was built by VIKAB Engineering in collaboration with the China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation.

The new hospital occupies four acres of land and features a modern two-storey building with a total floor area of 6,000 square meters. It is a fully air-conditioned facility with 75 hospital beds, with each room designed to accommodate five patients and equipped with individual washroom and toilet facilities. The hospital offers a wide range of 24-hour services, including an emergency department, laboratory, imaging services such as ultrasounds, postural scans, CT scans, and a dental suite. There are three fully equipped operating theatres, along with an additional theatre located in the emergency department for urgent surgical procedures. Each bed is fitted with a nurse call button to ensure prompt patient assistance. The facility is also equipped with its own oxygen plant, a blood bank system, and six mortuary chambers. The Diamond Regional Hospital is staffed by 45 patient assistants, 50 nursing assistants, and 40 registered nurses. The medical team includes approximately 70 physicians, comprising consultants, registrars, and government medical officers. Of the 16 departments at the facility, 14 are led by female department heads.

Meanwhile, hundreds of residents from nearby communities turned out to witness the commissioning. During his feature address, President Irfaan Ali noted that such investments as this will increase the life expectancy of citizen across this country. “This is no small investment. This is an investment in the people of Guyana, especially in the people on the East Bank Demerara. An investment that will increase the life expectancies of the citizens,” he said.

He also outlined the next phase in the government’s healthcare transformation agenda. This includes the completion of a new maternal and paediatric hospital set to become fully operational in the coming year, the establishment of a national health emergency operations center to coordinate land, sea, and air ambulance services, and the development of a branded hospital in the upcoming Silica City.
Additional innovations announced include the introduction of drone delivery systems for transporting medical supplies between hospitals, the implementation of robotic surgery, the retrofitting of dialysis facilities in every region, and the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare—particularly for imaging interpretation. “Let us not take these investments for granted,” President Ali urged. “I’m just giving you a taste of what is yet to come—but only if we can do this together, and only if you are serious about your future.”

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, echoed similar sentiments, expressing optimism about the hospital’s future impact. He noted that the new Diamond Regional Hospital was established to replace the previous facility, which was commissioned in 2007. Since its construction, the hospital has already created over 1,000 job opportunities for residents along the East Bank of Demerara. Dr. Anthony also emphasised that the facility is staffed with highly trained medical professionals to ensure the delivery of quality care. “The growth of the community must not be short of quality healthcare,” the minister asserted.

Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Yang Yang, praised the strong diplomatic and developmental partnership between Guyana and China during her remarks at the commissioning ceremony. She highlighted that the Diamond Regional Hospital is the first healthcare facility jointly constructed by the two nations. Ambassador Yang emphasised the quality and standards of the project, stating, “This hospital is adapted to Chinese standards, ranking among the world’s leading standards.”

The other regional hospitals currently under construction are at Enmore, Lima Sands, Lethem, Bath, Number 75 Village, and Kato. The Enmore Regional Hospital is expected to be the next to be commissioned.

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• China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, Diamond Hospital, Diamond housing scheme, Guyana Hospital, VIKAB Engineering

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