“We will manufacture medicines for the Caribbean” – Pres Ali outlines plan for regional supply hub

…as new Dr Balwant Singh Outpatient Pavilion commissioned

The Guyana Government is building out an expansive healthcare sector that will see the country moving beyond merely buying and selling towards the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, who noted that the aim is to position Guyana as the Caribbean hub for medicines. “We recognise today that hospitals cannot function without medicines. That is why we want [to] move towards an integrated platform for medical supplies in our country. Not only buying and selling, we want to create the framework here where we will manufacture for the rest of the Caribbean. “We’re going to play in every sphere of the ecosystem,” he said on Saturday. The Guyana Government has already been working on laying the foundation for pharma companies to establish their manufacturing base in Guyana.
Only last year, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony disclosed that legislative reforms were underway to modernise Guyana’s Food and Drug Department regulations, which currently date back to 1974. These changes will improve the regulatory framework for medicines, medical devices and vaccines, creating a more conducive environment for investment in the pharmaceutical sector. In fact, Guyana has been working with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and Rwanda on drafting new laws for the local pharmaceutical industry.
Moreover, an agreement was signed with the European Union (EU) to support the establishment of a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub here. Just last month, Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall outlined that more than 40 bills and regulations are slated to be introduced in the National Assembly this year, including the Food Safety (Amendment) Bill, Medicines Regulation Bill and Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Bill, among others. Guyana is pushing to set up a pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing hub with the aim of reducing the country’s, as well as the region’s, dependence on imports and making access equitable.
This comes on the heels of experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic when developing and small countries were left battling to secure vaccines after being put on waitlists by the big pharma manufacturers and having to depend on donations from partner countries and international organisations.

Forefront of robotic surgery
Meanwhile, the next wave of development for the local health sector will be Guyana being positioned at the forefront of robotic surgery in the Western Hemisphere.
According to President Ali, “We want robotics here yesterday. We want to be the first country, maybe in the Western Hemisphere, to have a transatlantic surgery performed through robotics here in Guyana. And I’ve already set that challenge to the team. We are going full robotics; no turning back.”
“There are some simple surgeries that can be done through robotics that will save us from the human fatigue. Human fatigue restricts how much we can do. It restricts our performance. It restricts the quality of care. After you do four or five [surgeries], you get tired… But imagine the same level of performance on the first surgery versus the 20th surgery on the same day. That is what it allows us to do. So, we are going there. It’s not ‘if’, it’s not ‘but’ or ‘when’. I’m telling you today, we are going there.”

Underscoring the Government’s forward-looking approach, the President said Guyana is aggressively deploying technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and digitisation to improve efficiency and eliminate shortages in the health sector.
“There should be no shortages with the investments we are making,” he stated but noted that “shortages are based completely on human inefficiency – and that is why we are going to use AI and technology to remove that inefficiency from the system.”

No distinction
The Head of State made these remarks on Saturday during the commissioning of the new Outpatient Pavilion at Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital on East Street, Georgetown – a facility he described as a symbol of Guyana’s rapidly transforming and integrated healthcare system. President Ali emphasised that the investment by Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital is part of a broader, national strategy to eliminate the divide between public and private healthcare.
“We want healthcare to have no distinction between public and private,” he declared, noting that, “You go to public or private as a choice, and that is where we want to take healthcare.” He defended the Government’s decision to partner with private hospitals to clear a backlog of diagnostic tests, rejecting criticisms that the move amounted to outsourcing responsibility. “We were not bankrolling private healthcare.
“We were bridging the divide,” he said while stating that “smart governance means leveraging every asset in the national interest.”
“We made it very clear that we wanted a health sector that exceeds global standards and one in which the public and private sectors are acutely integrated,” the President stated. Through partnerships with leading international institutions, including Mount Sinai, Northwell Health and Apollo Hospitals, Guyana is aligning its services with global benchmarks. “I have had the opportunity to visit this facility,” President Ali said, explaining that, “Those who go through it will be stunned at the level of infrastructure, the cleanliness and the quality feel.”
He disclosed that visiting international specialists recently indicated that Guyana’s new regional hospitals are on par with global facilities.
He said this feedback motivates the Government to push even further.