– as $6.6 billion Bath Regional Hospital opens
Since taking office in 2020, the PPP/C government has trained the most healthcare workers in the country’s history, anticipating the other nine regional hospitals that will be coming on stream.
As he opened the new $6.6 billion Bath Regional Hospital in Region Five on Wednesday, His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali urged healthcare workers to give their best to patients, noting that the government has afforded them the opportunity to study for free.
The new hospital, which will replace the outdated facility at Fort Wellington, features 75 beds, two dialysis units, a new CT Scan machine, and three surgical theatres.
To function effectively, close to 1000 persons have been employed at the facility.
“In this new era, there are some things we cannot overlook. We cannot overlook that in the last five years, we have trained more health professionals than at any other time in the history of our country,” the president said.
This, the president said, is coupled with the significant increases in salaries that healthcare workers have seen cumulatively over the last five years.
“We cannot avoid the truth that we have increased the salaries of healthcare workers massively in the last five years, and we will continue [to do that],” the head of state noted.
Despite this, President Ali recognised the reality that there are still some human resource gaps in the sector. These gaps will be addressed in the short term through the importation of skilled workers.
“I have mandated the Minister of Health to ensure that we bring in every single skill that is needed in this short to medium term…because I do not want to hear that we don’t have the doctors, the nurses, the lab technicians or anyone at these hospitals to run it properly,” he asserted.
Several other initiatives have been announced by the PPP/C government to complement the construction of new hospitals across the country.
Apart from the training of Guyanese to work in the sector, President Ali has already announced the implementation of the National Health Information System and the Patient Management Information System.
“[These systems] will enable us to capture data that will allow us to have early intervention, early care, early diagnostics, so that it gives you a longer and healthier life,” the president explained.
Constructed to meet Chinese, British, and American medical standards, the hospital will offer 24/7 emergency care, maternity and neonatal services, surgeries, and outpatient clinics.
It forms part of a broader $37.2 billion initiative, in which facilities are being developed at Lima (Region Two), De Kinderen (Region Three) and Skeldon (Region Six). The facility adds to those already opened in Diamond and Enmore on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara.
Through these investments, the government seeks to elevate Guyana as a hub for top-tier health services in the Caribbean.