The Health Ministry on Saturday commissioned a new state-of-the-art health centre at Esau and Jacob village, Region 5 (Mahaica-Berbice).
The new facility represents a total investment of $37 million into the community.
The new health centre will offer a wide range of services, including maternal and child health care, family planning, general outpatient services, chronic disease management, school health programmes, pharmacy services, and home visits, ensuring comprehensive health support for all residents.
Spearheading the commissioning ceremony was Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, who noted that the construction of the new healthcare facility reaffirms the Government’s commitment towards ensuring that underserved areas have access to all health services.
The $37M Esau and Jacob Health Centre
“One of the things that we’ve been trying to do in the Ministry of Health, is to ensure that the underserved areas in our country… that we are able to not just build health facilities, but to bring the services to the community.”
“For a long time, what we have been doing, we have been going across along the river, we’ve been going to Mora Point, and that’s where most of the people in Mahaicony Creek had to go to get service and that by itself was not adequate and we therefore decided that this is going to be an important addition where people can come and get care. And that’s why we have put this facility here,” The Health Minster added.
Moreover, as part of the Ministry’s efforts to decentralise health care, the Minister noted that the Mahaicony hospital is now equipped to do surgeries, eliminating the need for persons to travel outside of the region to undergo these procedures. He noted too that last year, some 200 planned surgeries were executed at the facility.
“We also recognise that while it is a hospital, there was no surgery that was being done. So everybody from this region, when you had to get a surgery, you had to go outside of the region to do so… we have started to do surgeries at the Mahaicony Hospital because under this Government, we have been able to build surgical theatres and we are now performing surgeries at the hospital. Last year, for example, we were able to do more than 200 and something planned surgeries at that hospital. So, you don’t have to go and travel out of the region to be able to do that,” he disclosed.
Additionally, with the construction of the new $6 billion Regional Hospital at Bath Settlement, the Minister noted that health care in the region will be significantly improved with residents now having access to their own accident and emergency unit.
“When we operationalise that hospital, there would be even more improvements in the regional infrastructure, health infrastructure. So, when that hospital becomes operational, what you will have there is a 24 hours accident and emergency. So, anybody that gets an accident now, you ain’t got to rush to go to New Amsterdam or rush to go to Georgetown. You would have your own accident and emergency at that new hospital and it would be properly staffed.”
In addition to this unit the hospital will be equipped with a 24/7 operating laboratory as well as an X-ray facility. The new facility will serve more than 30,000 residents of Region Five.
Importantly, the health facility would be classified a level four hospital, eradicating the necessity for persons to be referred to hospitals in Georgetown or New Amsterdam.
The health facility is being constructed by China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, Sinopharm.
