Sod turned for construction of modern $708M Industry Polyclinic

Aug 09, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – The sod was turned on Friday for the construction of the new, modern $708 million Industry Polyclinic.

The clinic will be built at the current location of the community’s health centre located at Crown Dam, Industry, East Coast Demerara, and another piece of land acquired by the government, and will be constructed by Satar Mohamed & Son Construction and Hardware Supplies to the tune of $708,624,090.

The sod was turned by Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), Mr. Robbie Rambarran, along with other officials.

The project will be supervised by Innovative Engineering Consultancy Services and is expected to be completed by July 21, 2026.

Rambarran provided a brief overview of the project and the new services that will be offered. He said the polyclinic is part of President Irfaan Ali’s mandate to have world class healthcare for all citizens.

“This new polyclinic represents more than just a building. It embodies our commitment to meeting the evolving healthcare needs of this community. Once completed, this facility will provide comprehensive medical services, improve efficiency and bring critical healthcare closer to the people we serve, it will be a place where innovations meet compassion and a space that reflects our president’s vision of the world class healthcare system focusing on accessibility and patient centered care,” Rambarran said.

 

He shared that the GPHC took over the management of the Industry Health Centre in May of 2011 and at that time, the facility saw less than 100 patients per month. Presently he noted, the health centre sees an average of 2,164 patients, providing the necessary primary healthcare services.

Establishing the modern polyclinic, he said, is a long overdue response to the challenges with the existing facility, and though they have done several additions over the years to that building, it did not provide the kind of logical flow they wanted.

“…Serving its community with excellence but its operations were hindered by outdated infrastructure. Despite several extensions over the years, the centre struggled to support proper patient flow and accessibility issues are present, forcing patients, especially elders, to climb steep and narrow stairs in a space not designated for proper healthcare delivery,” he explained.

Understanding these challenges, the staff faced in providing the highest level of care, the CEO said the new facility will provide the team with the right tools.

The new facility is set to be a modern, well-equipped space that enhance the patient’s experience and improve service delivery. The two-storey, 10,400 sq ft per floor unit will be furnished with two elevators (for easy accessibility for the elderly and differently-abled patients) and will have the Electronic Health Record system that is connected to the GPHC.
With advanced medical equipment, some of the new services that will be offered at the polyclinic include X-ray, ultrasound, ECG (commonly call the heart test), there will be an asthma bay, physiotherapy, dietary and nutrition services, diabetic care including retinopathy and a dental suite.

“But also, importantly, what we are building in this facility…we will build what we call a Lung Centre, and this will offer in service such as a polysonography lab. This is a comprehensive test used to diagnose sleep disorder. Sleep Disorder can affect the heart, lungs, memory and general wellbeing,” Rambarran announced.

It will also have a complete pulmonary function test, also known as a lung function test, which he said will open opportunity for detailed study of pulmonary fibrosis and other lung diseases, and it will offer spirometry tests that measures how well the outer lung works and the bronco provocation test, that diagnosed patient with asthma who has a normal spirometry test. Additionally, there will be allergy testing and diagnostic bronchoscopy being done here at the new facility.

Rambarran pointed out that some of the services that will be offered at the polyclinic, are only being offered at GPHC. With those services at the polyclinic, the GPHC CEO said the services offered by GPHC will be further decentralised.

In two weeks’ time, the contractor will demolish the current health centre to start construction.

The existing operation at the clinic will be relocated to a three-storey building located a few buildings away from the intersection of the railway embankment and Crown Dam (turning right).

Meanwhile, Dr Frank Anthony said it was always the government’s desire to extend the Industry Health Centre, and a few years ago, efforts were made to locate the owner of the plot of land next to the health centre.

“And we discovered that this plot of land was owned by the Ogle Mandir and so we started negotiations with them to acquire this plot of land, and it took a while talking to them and coming to an agreement, and we were happy to reach that agreement where, in the first instance, they had donated the piece of plot across there to us, that’s the Ministry of Health. But this piece, we bought it, and we paid to the Olge Mandir approximately $15 million to acquire this piece of land,” the minister explained.

The minister noted the government took the decision to have a new, modern building constructed to address the challenges the current health centre is facing.

“So, we were able to come to that agreement with them and we’re very pleased that we’ve been able to do this and the reason being, as you’ve heard from Robbie, we are going to knock this building down and replace it with quite a modern facility and all the services that would go with that facility. This is part of the modernization of health facilities that we have in and around Georgetown,” he said.

Dr Anthony noted that the population in Industry and surrounding communities has grown and there is a greater need for more services.

“And we are adding every day, we are adding different types of facilities, but we want to ensure that we have the people who can deliver quality service and so with this facility, you will see us have more people who will be able to run all those services that Robbie spoke about,” he explained.

He highlighted also the numerous health projects and initiatives the government is undertaking which include the building of new hospitals, introducing new services and training healthcare professionals.

Doctor- in-Charge of the Industry Health Centre, Dr. Saskia Sertimer, and councilor of Industry constituency, Ms. Shiela Veersammy noted that the residents of Industry and Cummingslodge will benefit from improved healthcare services when the new polyclinic is opened.

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• Frank Anthony, Mr. Robbie Rambarran, Polyclinic, Sod

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