The resuscitation of the controversial specialty hospital project is one of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) strategies to boost the local healthcare sector should it win the March 2 elections, former Minister of Culture Dr Frank Anthony has said.
Speaking at the party’s Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast rally on Saturday, Anthony bemoaned what he said was the tremendous suffering of the health sector and charged that little has been done by the David Granger-led APNU+AFC government to transform it. He claimed that medication and critical drugs have been in short supply at hospitals across the region.
“Look at what is happening in [the] health sector, there are long waits for medical care. Lack of drugs and medicine; families are helpless. Is this the kind of health care system that we want? We must all say enough is enough,” Anthony said to loud applause. According to him, should the PPP/C return to government, specialty care would be available at hospitals across the country and persons would not have to travel to foreign countries and to Georgetown to access such care. Prior to 2015, the PPP/C had been in power for 23 years and poor health care had been a major issue over those years.
Anthony told the crowd that the PPP/C will reintroduce the specialty hospital. “Specialty care is limited [here] and we will return to [the] PPP flagship project. We are going to build the specialty hospital,” he announced.
The former PPP/C government, of which Anthony was a part, had embarked on the intended project at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara in 2012 but it was mired in controversy. The contractor, Surendra Engineering Company Limited, was selected in August 2012 amid allegations of favouritism, and was subsequently fired by the Donald Ramotar-administration on a variety of grounds including fraud. In October 2015, the then PPP/C government filed a lawsuit against Surendra, accused the company of breach of contract and fraud and sought the recovery of the US$4.2 million in advance payments for the project.
It was a major embarrassment for the PPP/C administration, which had used Surendra for several key contracts, including the troubled Enmore packaging plant, and had been accused of favouring it in the US$18 million Specialty Hospital contract. The government eventually secured a default judgment against the company, which failed to enter an appearance in the action. By that time, Surendra no longer had a presence in Guyana, which limited the administration’s ability to enforce the judgment.
The APNU+AFC government sought to continue the project but it was discontinued after its handpicked contractor Fedders Lloyd was barred by India from participating in such contracts until 2020.
In his address, Anthony said that “it is time for have real change [in the health sector] we have. We must feel confident that when we are sick, [we] go to
hospital and get care. We don’t want drug shortages, we [want] medicine at our hospital.”
Aside from health care, Anthony accused the government of failing to put the interest of the people before their needs in a number of sectors. He cited the loss of jobs in the sugar industry, a move he said crippled the economies of many homes and communities. He claimed that unemployment and underemployment have risen within four years. “The APNU+AFC term has come to an end and it is time we give them a failed grade,” he said.
Small parties
Meantime, greeted by loud cheers, PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo encouraged supporters to pay no interest to small parties. He said that those parties were not a part of the “long and hard fight against APNU” and they are only using the opportunity to get into parliament.
“We have been on the forefront, your party, of the struggle to fight against corruption. We have been exposing corruption…It is the PPP who led the fight,” Jagdeo said, while questioning the whereabouts of the small parties during that time.
Jagdeo, who served as president from 1999 to 2011, and his government had faced major allegations of corruption during his tenure and the PPP/C presidential candidate Irfaan Ali is currently facing 19 criminal fraud charges.
The former president urged supporters to stay away from small parties’ meeting and rallies, claiming, among other things, that they are only looking into their interests. He told supporters to give them the “silent treatment.”
He also said that in making a decision on March 2, they must look at the track record of the party.
“This party long track record has been in service to the people. We are not just trying to win, we are fighting for everyone regardless of race or descent. We work very hard every single day to move our country forward. If you follow periods we have been in office we have had many problems but were on the path to progress,” Jagdeo said.
