Works to extend the maternity ward at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) are scheduled to begin next month under a $239.5M contract for improvements to the neo-natal, pre-natal and post-natal care units.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, the Director of Facilities Management at the GPHC, Kamal Haricharan, said the project will be used to add 70 beds for pre-natal and post-natal care, a new operating theatre, and re-design the 24-bed level at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
PD Contracting had submitted a $239.5M bid for the contractโthe lowest among the three firms that submitted bids.
GINA noted that in 2014 a total $72.6M was allocated to maternity care in a bid to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, which is to reduce the maternity mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015 by three quarters.
Of the $72.6M, $22.6M was used to establish maternity waiting homes in Lethem and Bartica for antenatal high-risk mothers and the remaining $50M was used as consulting fee for the maternity extension project.
