The Ministry of Public Health has refused to address concerns about the licensing of health care facilities for this year, saying instead that processing of applications for next year has begun.
Former Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, in a letter to the media last week, had indicated that only two health care facilities in Guyana are operating with a licence for this year. These are the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital, with the latter, a private institution, having recently obtained its licence after it sent a lawyer’s letter to the Ministry of Public Health. Given the situation, every one of the health facilities operated by government and the private sector, other than the two licensed, are operating illegally, Ramsammy said.
He called on the Ministers of Public Health to explain, even as he said that health care facilities have been inquiring but have faced a non-responsive partner in the Ministry of Public Health. According to Ramsammy, several of them are now contemplating the approach of the Balwant Singh’s Hospital of sending lawyer’s inquiries.
On Tuesday, one week after Ramsammy’s letter was published, the Ministry issued a press statement in which Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Shamdeo Persaud was quoted as saying that “four completed applications were received for consideration for licensing in 2019.” According to the statement, Persaud explained that 55 health facilities were recommended for licensing by the Central Board of Health (CBH) on submission of Inspection Report and Score sheets for each facility. He added that the 55 entities “were invited to complete the payments of all fees before the licence can be issued by the Minister of Public Health” to operate by November 2018.
“The 55 institutions, the highest number in the past eight years, include 10 public hospitals, four private hospitals, 10 medical laboratories, four optical centres, 17 health centres, three medical/surgical centres, two dialysis centres, two nursing homes, two imaging centres and one radiation therapy centre,” the statement said.
Of this number, 12 health facilities were “recommended for provisional licensing and two facilities were reviewed and upgraded to provide additional health services to the public.”
Persaud, according to the statement, emphasised that health facilities covered by this process “are required to develop and maintain acceptable standards of health…and ensure that a total number of 26 essential requirements and an additional 64 areas of competence for health care delivery sites” are adhered to.
Meanwhile, Dr Julian Amsterdam, Director of Standards and Technical Services within the Public Health Ministry has said his department has “had to force many institutions to adhere to the law,” according to the statement.
Questioning why the institutions are “screaming now,” Amsterdam claimed that many health facilities submitted their documents “very late” for processing, with more than 30 of the 55 entities approved for licensing having submitted their documents between October and November.
“The tardiness of the applicants, coupled with the numerous flaws in their documentation which must be corrected, means that the process of licensing approval is still being finalised coming to the close of the year,” the Ministry said. It added that due to this, the Standards and Technical Services, the Central Board of Health and other Public Health agencies are in a flurry of end-of-year activities to help regularise these vital health institutions.
