With the daunting fact that a number of hospitals and health centres across Guyana continue to fall short of critical drugs, the Public Health Minister has reaffirmed that the situation will be under control within a month’s time as Cabinet has given green light to a number of contracts for the procurement of medical supplies.
According to Health Minster Dr George Norton a total of 10 companies have had their bids approved by Cabinet and are expected to commence sourcing drugs and other medical supplies.
During an interview with this newspaper the Health Minister said that in the case of an emergency situation where drugs are urgently
Health Minster, Dr George Norton
needed by the health facilities, provisions have been made to address such cases: “All the regions have funds available to buy emergency drugs,” he guaranteed.
Drug shortages have been a topical issue for the year as even the premier healthcare facility, the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), had reported that there was a decline in the supply of critical drugs.
These reports followed others from across the country, which said drugs have been scarce as the ministry is failing to provide these.
The topic had also sparked a conflict in Parliament, as shadow health minister Dr Frank Anthony continued to lambast the government for returning money to the treasury when adequate work was not done to improve the health sector.
