The completion of the $31.9 billion state-of-the-art Paediatric and Maternal Hospital in Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD) has been delayed amid ownership changes at the contracting firm, VAMED Engineering.
This was disclosed by Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony during the Starting Point podcast on Sunday.
“The company has undergone a lot of changes. So originally, it was owned jointly by the Austrian government and Fresenius, that’s one of these makers of dialysis machines. So, the Austrian government sold their shares, Fresenius became a 100% owner. Then they sell their shares again to, now it’s a German company. So, because of these, we’ve had some hiccups,” the health minister explained.
Nonetheless, he said the Guyana Government continues to engage the firm to ensure the hospital’s timely and efficient completion.
“But we’re working with them to get these projects on track and for them to complete,” Dr Anthony noted.
The contract was signed in June 2022 and the project was initially slated for completion in late 2024. President Dr Irfaan Ali had announced in November 2024 that the company is expected to pay liquidated damages over the delays.
Meanwhile, Dr Anthony noted that once operational, the hospital will significantly strengthen the country’s capacity to deliver maternal and pediatric healthcare services.
The hospital will feature 256 beds and will specialise in maternal, neonatal and pediatric care, with a huge imaging suite for services such as CT scans, x-rays, and MRI.
“So, 100 of those beds would be maternal beds and the others would be paediatric. So, it would be a paediatric subspecialty hospital, so, meaning if you have kids with cardiac problems, they’ll be able to get treatment there, if you have kids with oncology problems and so, we’ll be able to treat them there,” Dr Anthony noted.
He added that efforts have already commenced to train the relevant personnel for the facility.
“So, while we’re building, we’ve also identified a number of people and we’ve been sending them abroad for training. So once that is completed, we’ll have relevant expertise to start some of the departments,” he noted.
Further speaking on maternal healthcare, Dr Anthony noted that Guyana has enhanced treatment and recorded a reduction in maternal deaths.
“So, the reports over the last, I would say ten years, we have seen a decline in maternal deaths and that’s because of the interventions that we have put in place,” he said, noting that a main intervention was to address postpartum haemorrhaging.
“There are a couple of reasons why women might die during childbirth. One would be postpartum haemorrhage, meaning bleeding after delivery. And if that’s not properly managed, you can have persons dying. So, we recognise that as an issue and we have trained healthcare workers across the public health system to respond appropriately to this. In the last, I would say three to four years, we have not had any case of postpartum haemorrhage and I attribute that largely to the kinds of training that we have given to our healthcare workers,” the health minister highlighted.
Another intervention is the creation of “waiting homes”.
“So, a waiting home is a building that we have put in the compound of a hospital and people who live far away, they can come to the hospital, stay in the waiting home, then when they go into labour, they move from that home into the delivery ward and so they can have a safe delivery. Prior to this, a lot of people on their way to the hospital would deliver the baby and sometimes that’s very unsafe and it can lead to a lot of complications. So, we’re trying to eliminate that. So far, we’ve established maybe about six waiting homes across the country and we are opening new ones because we want every interior hospital to have a waiting home next to it,” the health minister explained.
Nevertheless, when a maternal death occurs, he noted that robust systems are in place to investigate what went wrong.
“What we do immediately within 24 hours, the entire chart for that patient is basically seized and that has to be sent to the Chief Medical Officer. And we do that because we don’t want anybody to go and interfere and add anything or write anything or do anything to that chart. So that goes to the Chief Medical Officer and then he would set up, in the first instant, they will set up an internal team to that institution who will review the case and then you have an external team that would go in and also do a review. And if there’s any negligence on anybody’s behalf, that person is then taken in front of the medical council. And medical council would decide what actions to take,” he outlined.
Similarly, he said if nurses are found to be negligent, they will be dealt with by the nursing council. In extreme cases, he said healthcare professionals can be barred from practicing.
Moreover, in addition to the internal Ministry of Health’s investigation, Dr Anthony said there is a maternal mortality committee that also conducts a probe.
Guyana recorded 11 maternal deaths in 2025.
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