The Committee of Supply of the National Assembly on Thursday approved requests for a total of $98.3 million in additional capital funding by the Ministry of Public Health.
The requests included $86.1 million sought for the procurement of a mammography system for the Georgetown Public Hospital to aid early detection of breast cancer.
Although breast cancer is among the leading causes of death in women, Guyana’s 2016 STEPwise Approach to Surveillance survey found that 95% of 1,612 females in the age range of 18 to 69 who were surveyed had never had a mammogram.
Meanwhile, $12.2M was also requested for the procurement of a plateletpheresis machine for the National Blood Bank. The cost of the plateletpheresis machine – which collects platelets for blood clotting – was underestimated in the 2017 budget as only $1.8 million was budgeted.
