The Cheddi Jagan Dental School is expected to benefit from the construction of a $24.1 million operating theatre as part of ongoing upgrades to the facility.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony during his daily COVID-19 update where he mentioned that over last year, the ministry had initiated a programme to rehabilitate different sections of the facility.
In this year’s budget, Anthony stated, a sum of $24.1 million has been allocated to construct a theatre for maxillofacial surgery at the dental school. He indicated that thus far, they have put out tenders and received bids for the project and have already reached the stage of evaluation. The contract is soon to be awarded to the winning bidder. “So we are signing that contract during this week and construction should start by next week to create this maxillofacial theatre. We hope that this facility would be up and ready by the end of the year.”
He added that this facility was necessary as it has been recognised that there are persons who go to the Centre requiring specialised types of dental work which they are unable to get elsewhere. “In a lot of cases it’s more than just the normal dentistry that people would come to the institution for but it requires operation by a maxillofacial surgeon. Currently at the institution we have a number of maxillofacial surgeons but they don’t have a theatre to operate.” The minister went on to say that having the theatre constructed and operational soon would add to the suite of services currently being offered at the school. It was also disclosed that works have been completed to an area where the sterilisation of instruments is done. He also informed that a pharmacy has been recently completed and staffing for it, including pharmacists, will be put in place along with supplies within a week.
Further, the dental training programmes at the school have been restarted after being suspended due to the pandemic. These programmes are being carried out under the appropriate COVID-19 protocols, the minister assured.
