Govt partners with Mount Sinai, Hess Corp to transform Guyana’s healthcare

…to establish Centres of Excellence for heart, cancer
…30% discount for Guyanese patients

The Guyana Government will be collaborating with New York-based Mount Sinai Health System and Hess Corporation to transform Guyana’s healthcare into a world class service that will not only ensure accessibility and affordability for Guyanese citizens but also the Caribbean region.

To this end, an agreement between the three parties was signed on Friday morning at State House, where President Dr Irfaan Ali launched the National Health Care Initiative – a three component plan that focuses on enhancing the country’s primary healthcare services, improving patient care and management at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and developing specialised services in cardiology and oncology with the private sector.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony explained that Guyana will get two new Centres of Excellence that specialise in heart and cancer treatment as well as research to not only benefit Guyanese but the wider Caribbean.

“We are looking at a joint partnership between Government and the private sector to develop a Cardiovascular Centre of Excellence for Guyana and for the wider Caribbean. Also, we are looking at developing an Oncology Centre of Excellence, again, for Caribbean. So today, the signing represents one of those pivotal moments for healthcare transformation in Guyana,” he stated.
In relation to strengthening primary healthcare services, the initiative will focus on preventing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancers. It also encompasses the establishment of a health-informatics system.
“So, during this period, we’ll be working on developing not just the electronic medical record system but also using the data to do proper planning as we move the health system forward. We envisage the day when someone would have a smart card and when they come to anyone of our facility… and when they put it into the system, you’ll be able to pull up that patient’s records – not just the history but all the imaging and medicines they’ve been using. So, it’s going to be a very integrated system,” he posited.
The other component of the healthcare plan will see all aspects of operations at the GPHC – the country’s main referral hospital – being reviewed and upgraded to international standards as it relates to clinical excellence, developing patient care relationships, improving turnaround time for testing and waiting time to see a doctor.
According to Minister Anthony, the Guyana Government is looking to tap into the vast expertise and technology of the Mount Sinai team to execute this initiative in order to build a world class healthcare system here.

Destination for healthcare services
In fact, President Ali posited that the goal is not just to enhance the healthcare system for citizens here but to also make Guyana a destination of choice for healthcare services globally. To do this, he noted that Mount Sinai was the best partner for Guyana in creating that world class national healthcare system.
“The goal is to position Guyana among the best if not the best, better than Mount Sinai in global health services… We have to make use of this opportunity and I’m convinced that we have the best talent here too. We just have to bring that talent along and we can be as good as anyone else, and I believe in that,” he contended.
But critical to achieving this initiative, the Head of State pointed out, is technology, especially since Guyana is lagging far behind in the medical field. As such, he posited that Guyana will have to find a shortcut to keep abreast or come up to par with what is happening around the world in the healthcare sector.
“We can’t go in a straight line, train the people then get the people and then investment. We have to cut short. So, we have to bring the technology in and we have to bring the human resource in at the same time – cut the distance to getting there and to do that, we need to get into the people with the experience, the know-how and with the technology,” the President stated.
On this note, the Head of State underscored the importance of the local private sector stepping up in order to achieve this goal. He explained that the healthcare private sector has an important and integral role to play in this process.
“The private sector has a brilliant opportunity here and this is not only about health service provision. It has continuous value chain; you have therapeutic, you have research capability at the University of Guyana, you have therapy – a whole line of value-added that will come along with this,” he stressed.
To take the National Health Care Initiative forward, a Coordinating Steering Committee will be established with President Ali, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Mount Sinai, Dr Jeremy Boal; and Mount Sinai Board Member John Hess.
Additionally, a National Steering Committee, comprising of the private sector and Government officials will also be set up to look into Guyana’s “skills divestment”, that is, to determine the local skillset and ascertain the deficit and skill filling.

Warning
To this end, President Ali sounded a warning for medical practitioners who are not serious in carrying out their jobs.
“This is where the hard decisions would be taken because it may require some very, very strong decisions in order to fill that differentiation gap… A lot of you guys chose this path – medical science and to become great servants to humanity in the field of medicine. You either believe that is what you want to do or you don’t believe that that is what you want to do; there is no middle ground, sorry.”
“It’s simple as that, either you’re onboard or off board; either you want to do this for the rest of your life or you don’t want to do it. And there are enough opportunities in other areas that we can look at branching off careers. But don’t stay in it if you don’t want to be in it. We’re not investing all of this resources and time and energy for nothing,” the Guyanese leader asserted.

Strategic partnership
Meanwhile, Mount Sinai’s Dr Boal spoke of some of the areas this strategic partnership will focus on. Already, a team of over 40 leaders in oncology, cardiovascular medicine, endocrinology, primary preventative care, global health and health system operations has been assembled.
“While we acknowledge achieving the full healthcare transformation will take some time, we are hitting the ground running starting next week. Three days from [Friday], Mount Sinai Clinical Quality and Administrative leaders will arrive to engage with their counterparts at the Georgetown Public Hospital to improve and enhance care and outcomes there. And soon after, other clinical experts will return to Guyana to continue the planning for new Oncology and Cardiovascular Centres of Excellence as well as end to end diabetes screening and care,” he revealed.
This National Health Care Initiative is being funded jointly by the Government of Guyana and Hess Corporation, which has injected some US$32 million into the project. Chief Executive Officer John Hess posited that access to affordable and high quality healthcare is central to the vision for long-term, shared prosperity for the people of Guyana.
“We are proud to be part of the strategic partnership with the Government of Guyana and the Mount Sinai Health System to bring a brighter and healthier future for every Guyanese citizen now and for generations to come,” he stated.
Hess Corporation is one of the co-ventures conducting oil operations in the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block Offshore Guyana.
On the other hand, it was also announced on Friday that in addition to receiving help from Mount Sinai through the agreement signed to transform the country’s healthcare system, the Guyana Government was also able to secure a facility for all Guyanese requiring specialised medical treatment to get a 30 per cent discount once the Health Ministry approves a referral to Mount Sinai. (G8)