Hugo Chávez Centre providing “excellent” services – Minister Ally

…necessary care and treatment being provided to many on a daily basis

Scores of persons in dire need are presently benefiting from services being offered at the Hugo Chávez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration, located at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice (WCB); and they are being provided with “excellent” care.

This is according to Social Protection Minister Amna Ally, who, during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times on Sunday, stated that the facility, which provides refuge for some of the country’s homeless population, is functioning better than expected.
She explained that this was also due to the commitment and hard work of the staff at the Hugo Chávez Centre, who monitor operations there.
In relation to reports that the Social Protection Ministry recently advertised various vacancies in a bid to replace those workers, the Minister posited that this was far from the truth, since all posts are filled and no worker has left the job, or needs to be replaced.
“We did not advertise. That was a 2016 advertisement, and some foolish person put up that. We did not advertise anything,” the minister declared.

According to Minister Ally, despite claims being made that some form of corruption is taking place at the Hugo Chávez Centre, the process of managing the day-to-day task at that facility is both efficiently and effectively executed.
Presently, there are between 70 and 75 persons housed at this Centre, and obtaining quality care and treatment, the minister noted.
She added that allegations of millions of dollars that were intended for the Centre having gone missing are far from the truth.
Last year, following the successful implementation of its ‘Self-Sufficient Agricultural Economic Services Project’, which was launched in June 2017, the Hugo Chávez Centre became fully self-sufficient.
A main food supplier to State-benevolent centres, the Hugo Chávez Centre produces organic vegetables, chicken, and fish. Minister Ally had, on a past occasion, explained that in less than a year, the centre was able to produce and supply chicken to centres such as the Palms, the Mahaica Children’s Home, and the Mahaica Hospital.
“I am proud of the facility’s self-sufficiency. What I love about this programme is that we have our agencies being the beneficiaries of this project…and I am very proud and happy that this is a seven-and-a-half-month achievement since the President commissioned this facility. it is a very proud moment for us,” Minister Ally has told media operatives.
The project also formed part of the reintegration programme for those residents at the facility who were trained in the field of agriculture and farming.
Over the past two years, a number of persons have been trained under the Patient Care Assistant training programme, and some of them have been deployed to the Hugo Chávez Centre, where they provide direct and/or indirect care, which includes medical assessment, treatment, counselling and psychological assistance.
They were successfully trained to interact with indigent persons who have no fixed place of abode, as well as the less fortunate and homeless who may be in need of medical assessment and treatment. They provide counselling and psychological assistance to enable those persons to become disciplined and productive members of society.