Government has allocated almost a billion dollars for an e-Government network to deliver services which will support initiatives such as a national electronic patient care record.
Minister of Finance Winston Jordan told the National Assembly in his Budget 2015 presentation on Monday that in the social sphere, government intends to allocate significant resources to the education, health and security sectors.
He said that with respect to education, in conjunction with the relevant subject matter specialists, it must be ensured that Guyanese children benefit from affordable access to the best learning resources that are available, that teachers are equipped to guide, instruct and inspire them, and most importantly, that parents, can have sustained engagement with teachers and school administration to provide the support without which, the odds of success of especially the most vulnerable will be slim to non-existent.
“Consequently, $1.7 billion has been budgeted for the procurement of 9,609 laptops, which are to be distributed to educators, students, institutions of learning and community based organizations,” Jordan said.
“Additionally, the sum of $937 million has been allocated to the e-Government network over which access to many of the services envisaged shall be provided. Along with this investment in infrastructure will be investment in the development of educational tools and content, as well as systems that will ensure constant engagement of parents with the educational authorities. Distance learning and online course offerings will be substantially expanded as a tool of teaching and learning within the education sector,” the minister told the House which was absent of PPP parliamentarians.
He said that with respect to health, significant initiatives shall include a national electronic patient care record, which will facilitate seamless provision of health care services to citizens throughout the public sector and across public and private health care providers.
“We will also invest in enhancing our public health surveillance systems in order to maintain and improve the evidence base on which planning and evaluation of initiatives are done in the health sector, as well as to increase our capability to detect and respond to emergent threats,” Jordan asserted.
