The multi-million US$ Sheriff Hospital at Leonora, West Coast Demerara was yesterday officially opened with its principals committing to a charge from President Irfaan Ali that while patients will have access to world class healthcare service it must be affordable.
Announced also was that stem cell treatment would be offered along with cosmetic and other surgeries.
President Ali said that it is his government’s top priority for all Guyanese to have access to quality healthcare thus the reason for the removal of the 25 per cent corporate tax on healthcare service providers. He believes that the tax removal along with investor confidence in his government are key reasons for many investing here and the Sheriff Group’s plans to open additional facilities is evidence of this.
However, Ali told the principals of the hospital that as the country undergoes world class transformation, they must ensure that the service they provide matches that. “We are not playing to be second best, we are playing for once in Guyana to be the best at what we want to do,” he stressed.
The president noted that while he also understands that investments are made to bring profits and returns, investors must also understand that they have a social responsibility to the people to not exploit them.
“Today, Region Three celebrates with the investors this wonderful facility, and I am very pleased because the government has created the enabling environment by removing corporate tax on healthcare services… so this could be affordable.”
“I hope the Minister of Health would ensure that their affordability is in the true meaning of affordability. This is not a gift, this is an investment and we expect an investment to return profit, but investment in healthcare comes with a social conscience,” he added.
Chief Executive Officer, Shareef Ahmad, yesterday told the many attendees, most of whom hailed from the region, that in their options of healthcare treatment, they must know that this facility is there to offer them stellar service, every time.
“This hospital is your hospital. Together, we will change the way healthcare is dispensed in this county,” he declared.
His brother Edul ‘Ed’ Ahmad, who had first bought the lands, echoed that the facility is equipped to provide comprehensive health care, and promised that no person will be treated improperly.
He disclosed that the opening was emotional for him as he remembered his parents coming from humble beginnings as a weeder and a cleaner at facilities in the Leonora community, to seeing to fruition a vision to bring to ordinary citizens world class healthcare.
“When we talk about Leonora and Region Three, we talk about emotion… our goal is to make sure the people of Region Three get the healthcare they truly deserve… and most important, at an affordable price. We are proud to execute the journey. We are a part of you and you are a part of this. You will be treated with top healthcare treatment here,” he stressed.
To President Ali, Ahmad said that the Leonora hospital and two others that are planned for Georgetown and Berbice, respectively, are tied to Ali’s vision for nationwide quality healthcare. “This journey started with his vision. Healthcare being on the top of the agenda….”
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony remarked that even as private facilities are established, government is working to match the services provided by them in the public health sector. He spoke of the six new promised hospitals across the country and announced that works will soon begin at De Kinderen, also on the West Coast of Demerara.
Anthony pointed to the over $2 billion in two years that has been allocated to upgrade existing healthcare facilities in each of the 10 administrative regions.
To the Ahmad family, he thanked them for their investment and urged them to always stay true to health maximization and other healthcare principles.
The 24-hour facility will have five operating theatres, a modern stem cell research lab, MRI and CT scanning, and other modern services.
It aims to provide medical specialised services in internal medicine, cardiology, paediatrics, gynaecology, neurology, stem cell treatment, cancer treatment, dialysis, and has around-the-clock emergency and ICU management departments.
Medical specialty areas will see all laboratory testing being done along with CT, MRI and other imageology services. A 24-hour pharmacy is also located at the hospital.
In December of 2020, the Sheriff Medical Centre Inc had announced that the hospital at Leonora.
In August of last year, United States healthcare software company, Adroit Infosystems, had announced that the Leonora Hospital would have been opened in September and would be its newest client.
In January of this year, Amir Ahmad, one of the directors of the Sheriff Group of Companies, had told this newspaper that they would have soon commenced construction of a Specialty Hospital at Palmyra, Region Six – an investment which after completion will open up 400 jobs to Berbicians.
He informed that the Group had acquired some 15 acres of land at the Palmyra location, which at the time was being surveyed, as construction was expected to begin sometime the next month.
The group also has a medical facility on Sheriff Street, Subryanville, in Georgetown.
