President Dr Irfaan Ali has highlighted the significant benefits of the government’s investment in six new regional hospitals across the country, noting that the facilities are operating above global standards, with emergency cases recording an average waiting time of just 10 minutes.
Last year, six new regional hospitals across the country began operations: the Diamond Regional Hospital, the Enmore Regional Hospital, the Bath Regional Hospital, the Number 75 Village Regional Hospital, the De Kinderen Regional Hospital, and the Lima Regional Hospital.
“Since these six regional hospitals were commissioned, more than 145,000 outpatient visits were completed,” President Ali told a press conference on Tuesday.
He further highlighted that across the six hospitals, over 18,500 inpatient admissions were manage, approximately 3,700 surgeries were completed, and more than one million lab tests were done. Additionally, he said approximately 82,200 x-rays, 37,700 ultrasounds, and 13,680 CT scans were performed.
“More than 101,000 specialist clinic attendance, covering surgery, gynecology, radiation, radiology, dentistry, ophthalmology, ENT, name it, a wide array of service. Approximately 2,400 babies delivered. Nearly 280,000 prescriptions were completely filled at these six regional hospitals,” President Ali further revealed.
Moreover, he highlighted that the Diamond Regional Hospital recorded the highest inpatient and surgical workload, with 4,705 admissions, 967 surgeries, and 4,797 CT scans.
The Enmore Regional Hospital recorded the highest outpatient activity, with 36,670 visits, and the highest x-ray workload, with 21,131 x-rays.
The Number 75 Regional Hospital completed more than 351,000 lab tests while the Lima Regional Hospital conducted more than 289,000 lab tests.
The De Kinderen Regional Hospital recorded 8,760 ultrasounds and 61,700 lab tests while the Bath Regional Hospital delivered 25,601 outpatient consultations, 58,755 lab tests and 11,024 x-rays.
Importantly, President Ali boasted that the waiting time at these hospitals are significantly lower than global standards.
“Approximately 10 minutes for emergency care and 30 minutes for outpatient service. That is the average waiting time across the board at these six regional hospitals. That outperformed most hospitals globally, especially public hospitals,” he remarked.
Ali noted that while challenges still exist in the country’s healthcare system, the investments made are yielding positive results.
“These investments have revolutionised healthcare in our country. If you speak to people who utilise these services, predominantly, overwhelmingly, they will tell you all of the positive stories. That is not to say there are no challenges. In every system, there are challenges. But these challenges are not at a scale that some would want to reflect it as. Overwhelmingly, the performance of these hospitals, the medical teams, the lab teams, the nurses has been exceptional,” the Guyanese leader said.
President Ali assured that the government will continue making the necessary investments in the healthcare sector, noting that several major projects are already underway.
He disclosed that the Moruca Hospital is now 46.5 per cent completed, the Kato Hospital is 51.9 per cent completed, and the Lethem Hospital 49.8 per cent completed.
Additionally, he said the West Demerara Hospital is 21 per cent completed while the Bartica Hospital, with a contract value of $254 million, is still in the design stage, which is 95 per cent completed.
However, he noted that works on the Maternal and Paediatric Hospital as well as the new New Amsterdam Hospital complex are stalled due to an ongoing arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce.
President Ali has committed to building out a worldclass healthcare system across the country, inclusive of upgraded infrastructure, digitising records, and integrating artificial intelligence and telemedicine.
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