Design underway for West Dem, Suddie, Bartica hospital upgrades

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has announced that, within the coming months, a design will be finalised for upgrades to the West Demerara, Suddie and Bartica Hospitals – funded under a grant from the Indian Government.
On Thursday, it was indicated that an Indian company had won the bid, and after these architectural plans are drafted, the actual enhancement works would be sent to tender. Under this multi-million-dollar project, the West Demerara Hospital in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Suddie Hospital in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Bartica Hospital in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) will be upgraded.

“In addition to these hospitals, we recently signed an agreement with a company in India to start the design for the three hospitals under the Indian grant… That contract has now been signed with the company that would have won the bid…and we have now signed the contract for them to do the design works for these three hospitals. Once that’s started, we anticipate that, within nine months, they would be able to complete those designs, we’ll be able to go out to tender to get a contractor to start doing the actual works.”
With support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), upgrades have been announced to transform the Diamond, Leonora, Mabaruma, Paramakatoi and Lethem Hospitals. To date, the Diamond Diagnostic Centre has been completed, but there has been a lag in two of the projects.
“We have Leonora that is substantially completed. There are still some works to be done. We’re optimistic that we’ll be able to get that hospital within that timeframe of the contract, so that we can reopen it to the public with all the new upgrades. In Region One and Region Nine, we are having a challenge because the contractor is not on schedule.
“He have been working with PAHO, who has been supervising the contractor to bring them back on schedule…We continue to work through PAHO to get a contractor to start (works) in Paramakatoi. That project has not started as yet, but we’re hoping that we can get that going very soon,” the Minister underscored.
The ‘Smart hospital’ concept comes under an $835 million grant funded by the former United Kingdom Department for International Development and implemented by the Pan American Health Organization’s Department of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief with the Health Ministry.
Works at the Diamond Diagnostic facility were completed to the tune of US$984,439 and the facility can now cater for emergency services, obstetrics, gynaecology, surgeries, paediatrics, orthopedics, pharmacy and laboratory services, among others. The introduction of energy efficient systems would leave the dependence on traditional power sources. A mechanism was installed to collect rainfall and repurpose the water for daily operations. (G12)