President Bharrat Jagdeo is set to depart today for India to clinch a deal for a specialty hospital to be manned by a team of experts from that country.
The Government Information Agency described his visit as “an unprecedented mission that is likely to bring a major boost to the provision of health care services to this country”.
It said that the government has sealed a soft loan agreement with India for the setting up of a specialty hospital manned by a team of experts from that country.
It said in the long-term the move will significantly reduce the cost incurred for Guyanese to travel for specialist health care, particularly in the area of heart surgery, hip replacement and internal medicine among others.
“We expect that if that comes to Guyana… we have a lot of general medical practitioners but we need a lot of specialists and specialty hospitals so rather than having to send people across the Caribbean and pay a fortune… we can do it here cheaper,” President Jagdeo said.
When it becomes operational, the facility will also offer health services to nationals in other South American countries, the Caribbean Community and North America.
Jagdeo said that the costs for Guyanese patients are likely to be significantly lower given that Georgetown will be co-investing in the initiative with the Indian Government.
“So we don’t have to send our people abroad for complicated surgeries etc. it will all be done here in Guyana so the entire public health system is being transformed,” President Jagdeo said.
He was at the time speaking to residents of the Dazzel Housing Scheme on the East Coast of Demerara as he shared his government’s vision for the local health sector.
“This is where we are spending our money backing…access to health care,” President Jagdeo said as he spoke of the capacity of the government now to invest in the country having overcome the huge debt burden.
