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FM
Former Member
President commissions new inpatient facility at GPHC - calls for more focus on accountability, value for money

Georgetown, GINA, November 21, 2011
Source - GINA

President Bharrat Jagdeo delivering remarks at the commissioning of the new inpatient facility at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

President Bharrat Jagdeo today officially commissioned the new Inpatient Facility at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The Head of State expressed his satisfaction with the progress made in the health sector moreso the GPHC, which is the country’s premier health institution and lauded the Ministers who head the health Ministry and the administrators and staff of all the hospitals across Guyana, all of whom, made sterling contributions in enhancing the delivery of health care.

However; the President recognised that much more needs to be done and reaffirmed Government’s commitment in ensuring that more resources are made available for the sector to ensure the Guyanese benefit from the highest quality healthcare.

“If you were to trace the growth in the services, you would see that it is nothing short of phenomenal. I recall the early days when the facilities were not as good as they are now, but as our country progresses economically, so too does our capacity, to expand health care to our people,” the President said.

A patient being attended to in the inpatient facility.

He explained that improvements in health care are not merely as a result of the construction of new buildings but also as a result of good policies, as well as what takes place within institutions itself.

He urged all staff, particularly the administrators, to place a stronger focus on accountability and value for money.

“We have to make sure that in a country like ours, we get the maximum value for every dollar that we spend, particularly in health care…we have to ensure that we are patient-friendly and that we understand that the service that we provide here has to be done in a particular manner…greater accountability for the level of service provided in these institutions is also an important matter,” the Head of State explained.

He disclosed that only recently, the Indian Government indicated that it approved the “soft loan” to fund the new Specialty Hospital that will be built at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

A section of the gathering at the commissioning of the new inpatient facility at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

This facility will not only become part of what is being offered within the public health system, but will also allow Guyanese to access the best quality tertiary health care at an affordable cost because Government will be entering a partnership with a management group that will deliver those services.

President Jagdeo said that construction of this state-of-the-art facility, that will see a quantum leap with regards to health care delivery, is anticipated to commence by the first quarter of 2012.

Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said that the commissioning of the facility represents another step in the overall implementation of the new health sector in Guyana.

“Our health sector serves the people of Guyana and our guests…not one political, ethnic, cultural and religious group…I can’t say that we have reached the place where we want to be, but I stand here with extreme pride of how far we have come,” the Health Minister said.

He noted that Government has demonstrated through its investments that health is a part of the country’s development.

The new inpatient building.

The total investments at the GPHC in 1990, was $127M; the 2011 budget on the other hand, saw the hospital receiving an allocation of over US $20.5M, with approximately US $10M to be spent on medicines alone for the year.

The new in-patient facility is in keeping with the GPHC’s master plan and the national development strategy to improve the quality and efficacy of health care services. The state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to house approximately 300 patients.

Works on the building commenced in 2010 with a budgetary allocation of $716M for the first phase, while earlier this year an additional $235M was budgeted for its completion.

The facility which has eight isolation rooms for patients with communicable diseases, and four silent rooms for grieving patients or for persons, who wish to pray, was constructed through a collaborative venture between Government and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Each bed in the new facility will be equipped with modern centralised monitoring devices such as gas masks and heart and blood pressure monitors. Meanwhile, some 65 doctors and 60 nurses have already been identified to staff the new facility.

The facility is expected to significantly ease the situation of overcrowding at the current facility.

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Is this all they can build for Health care after 19 years??? There are three patients per bed currently at GPH.

How many PPP pockets were filled off of this project???? I bet they could have built three similar facilities had there not been any t-fin.

PPP cronies getting rich, people getting ripped off.
FM
quote:



The new in-patient facility is in keeping with the GPHC’s master plan and the national development strategy to improve the quality and efficacy of health care services. The state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to house approximately 300 patients.

FM
quote:
The new inpatient building.

The total investments at the GPHC in 1990, was $127M; the 2011 budget on the other hand, saw the hospital receiving an allocation of over US $20.5M, with approximately US $10M to be spent on medicines alone for the year.

The new in-patient facility is in keeping with the GPHC’s master plan and the national development strategy to improve the quality and efficacy of health care services. The state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to house approximately 300 patients.

Works on the building commenced in 2010 with a budgetary allocation of $716M for the first phase, while earlier this year an additional $235M was budgeted for its completion.

The facility which has eight isolation rooms for patients with communicable diseases, and four silent rooms for grieving patients or for persons, who wish to pray, was constructed through a collaborative venture between Government and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Each bed in the new facility will be equipped with modern centralised monitoring devices such as gas masks and heart and blood pressure monitors. Meanwhile, some 65 doctors and 60 nurses have already been identified to staff the new facility.

The facility is expected to significantly ease the situation of overcrowding at the current facility.


Progress Continues with the PPP/C, We now have another showpiece for others to emulate.

.
FM
GPHC $1.2B in-patient facility commissioned

- President highlights future advances with new tertiary care institution
- Ramsammy says another step taken towards a new health sector


Written by Vanessa Narine
Tuesday, 22 November 2011 03:19
Source - Guyana Chronicle

President Bharrat Jagdeo unveils the plaque at the commissioning of the new in-patient facility. Also in picture, from left, are Minister Frank Anthony, Minister Leslie Ramsammy and Dr. Nanda Gopaul.

PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday commissioned the $1.2B in-patient facility at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), New Market Street, and made it clear that the advances in the health sector will continue, pointing to the recent agreement made with India to establish a new facility at Liliendaal, where Guyanese will be able to access quality tertiary health care services at a fraction of the cost.

Jagdeo said, “Just two days ago we received confirmation from the Indian Government that they have approved the soft loan to fund the new hospital...obviously we need to do more. The Guyanese people have a strong commitment from the government which will be dedicated to this sector to ensure that we have the best quality care.”

He said the construction of the specialty facility is expected to begin by the first quarter of 2012.

The Indian Government was approached sometime ago when it was agreed that a line of credit will be used for the construction of the hospital. It is expected that a partner from India will be chosen to manage the facility until such time that locals can take over.

GPHC Nurses welcome invitees to the commissioning ceremony

The establishment is expected to provide any surgery which Guyanese would normally travel to North America and other countries for, at a fraction of the cost, while at the same time not compromising quality. It is expected that the speciality hospital will be providing services including cardio-related and cosmetic surgeries, and organ transplants.

According to the president, as Guyana progresses economically, increasing amounts of resources will be allocated to the health sector.

“It is not only about resources, but polices and what happens in the agencies themselves,” he said.

The Head of State maintained that the health sector has seen tremendous change in the delivery and quality of health care, and attributed the success to the leadership of Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and other administrators and staff in the sector.

PHENOMENAL CHANGE

“The growth in the services, you will see, is nothing short of phenomenal…I am pleased at the progress at the Georgetown Public Hospital and in the health sector in general,” Jagdeo said.

On that note, he called for maximum value for money, greater accountability for the level of services provided, and a sector that is patient friendly.

A section of the $1.2B in-patient facility

“We have much work to do,” the president said.

Health Minster, Leslie Ramsammy echoed these sentiments, adding that the sector has witnessed massive transformation from the “decrepit and rotten” state it was in – a state where the needs of the Guyanese people were not served.

He said that looking back, not to place blame, but to remember where the health sector was and where it is now, the Guyanese people have much to be proud of.

“We have not reached where we want to be, but I can stand here with pride at how far we have come,” Ramsammy said.

He stressed that the transformations have not occurred overnight; rather they are the result of consistent commitment to improving the sector.

FALLEN LEADER

The Health Minster noted that in the 1960s Guyana led the Caribbean in health care, but suffered massive regression in the 1980s, when allocations to the sector was a mere one per cent of the national budget.

In the 2011 National Budget, the GPHC allocations was some US$20.5M, out of a total allocation of some $14B.

From left are GPHC CEO Mr. Michael Khan, GPHC Board Chairman Dr. Nanda Gopaul, and Minister Leslie Ramsammy addressing the gathering.

According to him, the modernisation drive to return the health sector to a place where it could provide quality health care services to the Guyanese people began in 1964, with the commissioning of an ambulatory building.

Lauding the new in-patient facility as another milestone in the overall modernisation drive, Ramsammy pointed to the establishment of the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI), the OBGYN and the rehabilitated Medicine wards, as well as developments with the health information systems and human resource capacity building, among many other advances.

He maintained that the advance of the health sector is premised on the acceptance that health is an important element in general development.

NEW SECTOR

Ramsammy stated that the commissioning of the new in-patient facility is another step in the overall implementation of a new health sector in Guyana.

“The building is a sign of what we see the physical infrastructure to be in the future,” he said.

According to him, the public health sector provides services to Guyanese people at their most vulnerable moments.

He observed that restricted services will be the downfall of any health sector, which, in that way, will be unable to fulfill its mandate.

The infrastructural upgrade is in keeping with GPHC’s master plan and the national development strategy to improve the quality and efficacy of health care services.

GPHC’s Director of Medical Services, Dr. Sheik Amir, added his bit and pointed out that the transformation will continue as the health sector is poised to propel its advance.

The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Khan, stated that the new facility will accommodate 202 beds in the male and female medical and surgical wards, as well as a physiotherapy department. Other features of the new facility include intercom, alert systems for patients to contact the nurses’ station, and a prayer room for relatives.

Khan stated that the challenges are now inconsequential, considering the massive improvement in the delivery and quality of health care services.

He also observed that the physical infrastructural advance must match the technological advance.

Conceptualised in 2004, construction on the facility was started in 2007, and despite interruptions in the construction schedule, has been completed by the contractor, R. Basso Contracting Firm.

Others attending the commissioning ceremony were Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony; GPHC board members, representative from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and members of international organizations, as well as health sector staffers.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 22 November 2011 03:33 )
FM
Brodaman asks:
quote:
Is this all they can build for Health care after 19 years???

Brodaman, like yuh memory short.
The PNC ran down the Georgetown Hospital for 28 years, making it one old stinking waiting room for Death.
It was only after 1992 that the PPP/C government commenced demolishing those old structures one by one and building new wards and theatres, as well as equipping them decently.
B

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