New hospitals will have birthing suite, 3 operating theatres – Dr Anthony

…as National Assembly approves $143B for Health Ministry

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has set a goal to open six new hospitals this year. Each facility will be well-equipped to provide level four care, featuring dedicated birthing suites and a minimum of three operating theatres.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health gave account for the budgetary allocation it received this year.
With the National Assembly’s Committee of Supply going on to approve $143.2 Billion set aside for the health sector, among the developments Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony spoke of, were the six, level four hospitals that will be opened this year.
These hospitals will be located at Lima in Region Two, DeKindren in Region Three, Diamond and Enmore on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara respectively and hospitals at Bath and Skeldon in Regions Five and Six.
“At each of these new hospitals, when you go there for those who need to access the accident and emergency, you will have a 24-hour service. If you have to get an image, a CT done, you will have CT scans available at every one of these facilities. You will have a 24-hour laboratory service at every one of these facilities.”
“We have three operating theatres in them. One is located in the accident and emergency and two upstairs. So, we’ll have a lot of surgeries that are available. We’ll also have a birthing suite, so that obstetric patients will have care. You will have intensive and neonatal care units,” Dr. Anthony said.
Additionally, Anthony explained that each self-contained room will have no more than five beds and will have their own toilet and bath. Meanwhile, the Minister also spoke about the level 2 health centres and the services they provide.
Dr. Anthony explained that there are 115 different medical interventions provided at these centres, from child care to infectious diseases.
“Among the things that we’re implementing-let’s take chronic diseases. For hypertensive patients, they would receive hearts. So, they’ll get more efficient medication. They’ll be monitored. For diabetic patients, we’re working to ensure that across the system, they’ll have access to HPA 1C and so forth.”
“We’re not fully there yet, because we only have HPA 1C in 89 centers. But we’re working to get more of these centers, so that people can have access to more of these things. These are some of the more common things that people would come to the facilities for,” Dr. Anthony added.

The government has said that all six regional hospitals that are currently under construction are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2025.
In 2024, the government also sought to train more nurses, build more modern health facilities and tackle chronic diseases that affect thousands of people annually.
Guyana’s public health sector received a whopping $129.8 billion budgetary allocation last year, the largest budgetary allocation ever for the sector. Out of that budget, $10.3 billion was allocated towards the paediatric and maternal hospital at Ogle.
Another $15.5 billion was allocated for the construction of six regional hospitals at Bath, De Kindren, Diamond, Enmore, Lima and the No. 75 Village.
In this year’s health budget, $2.98 billion has been set aside to support the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), and ensure that the facilities, furniture, vehicles and equipment needed for its smooth running is available.
A sum of $28 Billion was set aside for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies, with $852 million also set aside for projects that include new training facilities in Suddie and New Amsterdam, in keeping with the government’s efforts to dramatically increase the number of local medical professionals.
The government is targeting that over 3,200 medical professionals will complete their training this year.
Meanwhile, one of the measures that had been announced in the budget was a $10,000 universal healthcare voucher for every citizen, which will be distributed to every person to finance basic health tests.
It had been announced that this would cost the Government an estimated $5 billion and target potentially 500,000 persons.
Level four hospitals are considered to provide a more comprehensive service with more specialised staff; where emergency, general and specialised operations are delivered.