Northwell Health to conduct assessment of Guyana’s ambulatory services next month

An assessment of the ambulance services across Guyana will get underway in October as part of efforts to modernise the country’s emergency management systems.
President Dr Irfaan Ali witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Government of Guyana and United States-based Northwell Health on Tuesday in New York.

The Head of State had travelled to the United States (US) to attend the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held in New York this week.
On the side-lines of the UNGA, the Guyana Government inks the deal with Northwell Health, which will result in the modernisation of emergency management systems here.
According to a post on President Ali’s Facebook page, “The updates will commence with an assessment of ambulatory services across the country, scheduled to begin in October of this year.”
The Guyanese Head of State had announced this partnership on Tuesday evening while addressing members of the Guyanese Diaspora at a reception held at Russo’s on the Bay in Queens.
“Only today, we signed another agreement with Northwell, who will be implementing our emergency services and emergency medical services in Guyana, and they will be managing that service whilst we build the capacity over the next three years,” President Ali said on Tuesday evening.
This announcement comes on the heels of the Head of State meeting with a team from Northwell Health led by Vice President and Founding Director of Northwell Health’s Centre for Global Health, Dr Eric Cioè-Peña, earlier this month.
During the engagement in Georgetown, the discussions focused on the implementation of the National Emergency Medicine Authority and on working in collaboration with ExxonMobil to establish a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Centre in Guyana.
President Ali had previously revealed plans for a countrywide revamp of the emergency healthcare systems. In fact, the Government is currently working towards the establishment of a national ambulance authority that will oversee the coordination to cover emergency dispatch via land, sea and air.
That authority is likely to be set up at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, formerly the Oceanview Hotel.
The Government is also looking at establishing a central telemedicine centre at the Oceanview facility. The telemedicine programme is one of the initiatives that Guyana has been collaborating with Northwell Health, which is a non-profit integrated healthcare service that is considered New York’s largest healthcare provider, on to modernise the local healthcare sector.
Back in 2022, Guyana inked a five-year medical partnership with Northwell to, among other things, enhance care, train physicians, address health disparities, assess hinterland regions, and strengthen the secondary-care system as well as emergency medical services. Since then, the telemedicine programme has been expanded and now operates across 81 sites, thus enabling two-way, real-time communication between patients and healthcare providers in different locations, supported by audio-visual technology and integrated medical devices. The initiative targets hinterland and riverine communities, aiming to improve patient outcomes and emergency response capabilities.
Northwell Health is among several US-based medical institutions that the Guyana Government has been collaborating with, another being Mount Sinai Hospital, to enhance the delivery of its healthcare services.
According to President Ali during Tuesday’s reception, these plans to enhance healthcare delivery are not just geared towards citizens living in Guyana but those in the diaspora as well.
“I know one of your greatest concerns is healthcare. Some of you worry, if I visit and a medical emergency arises, will I receive the care I deserve? Here’s my assurance: we are building a world-class healthcare system.”
“No Guyanese, whether at home or visiting, should ever have to question the quality of healthcare they receive. We are building a healthcare sector and an education sector for all of you to be a part of so that we’ll be able to take care of you with the same care that you can have over here,” the Guyanese leader posited.
In fact, to ensure this happens, President Ali has been engaging a number of other private institutions in the US, including nursing schools and medical universities that have all expressed interest in establishing their footprint in Guyana.