Qualified administrators needed to run new hospitals – Health Minister

Several hospitals are currently in the pipeline as Guyana advances in healthcare delivery, and Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has acknowledged the need for qualified administrators to run these facilities smoothly.
Through collaboration with York University, the Health Ministry had launched a customised programme for hospital administrators. A second batch of the course will soon be undertaken.
“We want hospital administrators because we need people to understand how to administrate these institutions that we’re building. Let’s find people with the relevant skill set that are trainable and we can put them on this programme. We’re also working with York [University] to do a Physician Leadership Programme. This is a programme that we want to put in the various hospitals because some physicians don’t necessarily know how to administrate,” Dr Anthony outlined on Monday.

A few weeks ago, 25 executive heads of hospitals and health centres across the country were awarded their Masters Certificate in Hospital Leadership following a nine-month course facilitated by the Health Ministry and Canada-based Schulich ExecEd, an extension of the Schulich School of Business at York University.
This programme was customised for Guyana’s hospital administrators and was aimed at providing them with the necessary interpersonal skills and hands-on business tools to improve management, leadership, and service delivery skills at all levels.
Government is in the process of building six new regional hospitals at Anna Regina in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); De Kinderen in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Bath Settlement in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); Number 75 Village in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); and Diamond and Enmore in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). It is part of a US$180 million project.
A 256-bed maternal and child health hospital with the capability to do paediatric cardiac surgeries and other specialty services will be constructed to Ogle, pegged at $12.4 billion.
Hinterland regions will soon benefit from new state-of-the-art hospitals, financed through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for which a US$97 million loan was secured by the Guyana Government in December 2022.
They will be located in Moruca, Region One (Barima-Waini); Kamarang, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); Kato, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); and Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). The funds will also be used to upgrade the Linden Hospital in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Meanwhile, a US$161 million contract is to be signed very shortly for the construction of a new hospital in New Amsterdam, Region Six.
Hospitals outside of Mabaruma, Port Kaituma, Mahdia, Paramakatoi, Annai, and Kwakwani are scheduled for major upgrades between 2024 and 2026 while oxygen plants are being established in all hinterland hospitals.
The Bartica Regional Hospital will also be reconstructed, with works slated to begin before year-end and completed in 2025. Plans are also underway to reconstruct the West Demerara Regional Hospital and upgrade the hospitals at Suddie, Port Mourant, Mahaicony, and Mibicuri.
Upgrades have already been done to the hospitals at Paramakatoi, Mabaruma, Leonora, Diamond, and Lethem, transforming them into SMART facilities.

Ultrasound Technicians
A major challenge for the health sector has been the human resource capacity in ultrasound, prompting the Ministry to kickstart a new one-year course where technicians will be trained from each region across Guyana.
“While we have spent a lot of money buying the ultrasound equipment, most of that is being managed by physicians. Physicians’ time can be deployed more productively in many other things and they can look at the more complicated cases. Later in the year, we are going to roll out a programme to train ultrasound technicians,” the Minister divulged.
This programme will be offered in a hybrid setting with a mixture of virtual and practical learning. (G12)