The Parliamentary Committee of Supply on Thursday approved $863.6 million to further the government’s medical assistance programme.
According to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, there is a $399 million increase in the allocation when compared to last year. He explained that while 1,538 persons benefitted from the government’s medical assistance, that number is expected to drastically increase as the programme is being expanded.
Providing a breakdown of the allocation, Dr Anthony said that $400 million has been allocated for patients who need cardiac interventions, $60 million for those who need computerized tomography (CT) scans and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and $12 million for patients who are in need of prosthetics.
“What we are doing here is the programme where we provide assistance to patients who need such assistance… We have also put under this heading another $70 million to assist persons who need radiation. We have allocated $18 million for cross-matching for renal transplants patients. These are patients who are getting a kidney but we have to cross-match. We have allocated $20 million for eye care patients who need specialized operations of the eye…there is $103 million for patients who would need help for other illnesses and these are mainly patients we would send overseas,” the Minister told the Committee.
Additionally, he said that $180 million has been allocated to provide dialysis patients with $600,000 per annum to cover part of their treatment cost.
During his 2022 budget presentation, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had announced the $600,000 grant by the government.
“…this country currently has hundreds of persons undergoing ongoing treatment for life-threatening conditions. A prime example is the number of persons currently receiving dialysis treatment, many of whom are young people still in the prime of their lives, but oftentimes struggling to meet the cost of their treatment. To this end, we will introduce a Dialysis Support Programme under which we will finance up to $600,000 per annum worth of dialysis treatment for each and every dialysis patient in Guyana. This programme will provide much-needed assistance to almost 300 persons at a cost of $180 million,” he had said.
