Guyana-Suriname health pact to enhance healthcare delivery

An agreement has been signed by the Governments of Guyana and Suriname to strengthen cooperation in the area of health and will result in citizens benefitting from an ease of access to services offered by both countries in the sector.
The pact was signed between acting Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Frank Anthony and the Surinamese Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation, Albert Ramdin on Thursday.

Speaking with reporters following the signing, Anthony explained that this framework allows for a series of partnerships between the two countries, aimed at improving healthcare delivery.
“It’s a framework document that we have been working on since last year and what it allows is for cooperation between both countries for training, and their common concerns at the border. For example, vector control and looking at different types of infectious diseases. We also looked at the possibility where each country can benefit from the other, in terms of the provision of medical services,” the substantive Health Minister detailed.
According to him, Guyana and Suriname would also seek to acquire specialised services offered in the respective countries, in order to complement each other.
“There are some medical services that are offered by Suriname that we don’t have here and there are things that we can do here that they’re not offering. We’re doing kidney transplants. That’s not done in Suriname. Suriname offers various types of radiotherapy that we don’t have. In a way, we can complement each other. Those are the kinds of things we have covered.”
Apart from services, he said there will also be joint partnerships in human resource development, that is, training for various healthcare workers.
“We have also looked at the possibility of training, where they have some training programme that we can benefit from and they’re looking at our programmes as well. I think over the next two years or so, we’ll see different things unfold between the two countries,” Dr Anthony noted.
Speaking on the COVID-19 pandemic, both governments are also looking to work together to address issues of vaccination, vaccine hesitancy and disease control.
“On both sides, we recognise that there might be some amount of hesitancy in both countries and what we want to do is synchronise our efforts to ensure that our population to ensure that our population can get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”
Since March last year, the pandemic has significantly reduced travel between the two countries via the ferry service between Moleson Creek and South Drain. But for now, officials are working to synchronise their requirements and ensure that there is proper monitoring in place before this can return to normalcy.
He told media operatives, “Suriname’s position is that you have to get a negative PCR, which is our position as well. So, once you have a negative PCR and most countries are introducing vaccination which we have also done. Countries are moving in that direction and our protocols are in sync with each other. As we try to facilitate the reopening of the ferry and have more frequent trips, we have to make sure that the protocols are adhered to.” (G12)