Although the new government is proceeding with the controversial specialty hospital project, Health Minister Dr George Norton says the priorities for the health sector are still addressing the high maternal mortality rate, mental health and training of health care workers.
Norton stressed that while the specialty hospital might prove to be a good long-term investment, it is not one of his short-term priorities. “We have a high maternal mortality rate and we need to focus on that. We have mental health problems, which I view as a priority, and training of our medical professionals, especially our nurses. We need a lot of infrastructure to improve our primary health care services. We also need to make sure our medical school is reaccredited. These are our priorities right now,” Norton told Stabroek News on Thursday.
The government’s decision to pursue the project was as a result of a new agreement with the Indian government, which would allow for funding for a specialty hospital as well as for use of US$14M remaining from the line of credit originally intended for the project to upgrade the West Demerara, Suddie and Bartica hospitals.
The decision to move ahead with the project prompted criticism by PPP/C Chief Whip and former presidential adviser Gail Teixeira, who said the move has vindicated the former PPP/C administration’s pursuit of the specialty hospital. “The PPP/C has been vindicated. The issue is that we have lost precious time where patients’ lives could have been saved, where they could have been made to live a more comfortable life and now the APNU+AFC must answer what was the tactic behind the obstruction of the specialty hospital,” Teixeira said at a press conference on Thursday “We have now lost two years thanks to the behaviour of the APNU+AFC in the opposition,” she added, while accusing the coalition government of deliberately stymying the project while in opposition.
But in a statement issued on Thursday, the government highlighted what it referred to as recklessness of the PPP regime in signing off the project with the highly questionable Surendra Engineering Company Limited. According to the statement, “this shady deal was concluded and forced through, costing the Guyanese taxpayers millions of dollars.”
The former contractor Surendra Engineering was successfully sued by the previous government in 2014 for breach of contract and fraud. In its submission, the government claimed that Surendra “failed to perform their obligations under the terms of the contract and to account for the advance payment of US$4,285,440.00…. Instead, the defendant submitted fabricated, unsigned and sometimes inflated invoices with no evidence of actual payments made or to support the expenditure claimed.”
Norton also disagreed with Teixeira’s assertions about the coalition’s misgivings about the project. Speaking with Stabroek News on Thursday evening, Norton said that the main problem the new administration had with the project was the lack of information. “A big problem was the lack of information. When the idea was approved, even the medical fraternity was not consulted. Most doctors were saying we can’t even run a diabetic foot clinic properly and now we are going to have a specialty hospital,” Norton said.
The minister noted that the APNU+AFC administration hopes to avoid this issue.
“We want to have consultation with stakeholders. All the information will be public, no one will be told to check online for answers,” he said.
In June, Minister of State Joseph Harmon had announced that the new APNU+AFC government was abandoning the controversial project and was hoping to have the remainder of the credit—around US$14 million—be made available for primary health care.
Norton on Thursday explained that the new arrangement is a government to government agreement and the details are being finalised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Asked about the next step, Norton explained that while some work has been done by the last contractor, the government will be looking to secure a new contract via an open tender process.
“Through this process we will be able to choose someone with experience of construction medical facilities and we should have no problems with fraudulent documents or such,” Norton said.
The government’s statement stressed that the credit for this new extended package belongs to Norton and as well as the coalition government in general.
