Canefield gets new $56M health centre
Residents of Canefield and surrounding East Canje, Berbice communities will now benefit from the services of a newly commissioned $56 million health centre.
The modern facility will offer essential healthcare services, including primary care, maternal and child health, and chronic disease, reducing the need for long-distance travel to the regional hospital.
During the opening ceremony, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony highlighted that the medical outpost is part of a wider government agenda to provide a world-class healthcare system.
“If we are going to do that then at every level of health care, we have to ensure that we make investments and build good facilities. But not only the facilities, we must have the people who are going to be running the facilities, [and] the equipment, so that when persons come, they can get good treatment,” Dr Anthony stated.
He pointed out that while constructing such facilities is straightforward, maintaining and providing high-quality service can be challenging.
As such, the health minister urged the staff to ensure that everyone who accesses services receives the best possible care.
“What we don’t want is having built the facility, that when residents come here to access care, they are having difficulty. That is what we must avoid. We can’t make such an investment and then we don’t have the services to go with the investment,” he said.
The minister highlighted cases where residents could not access a health post because the gate was locked or they were turned away with excuses like equipment not working.
Minister Anthony emphasised, “That’s not what we are building this facility for. We want people to come, have access, and get the service that we want to provide.”
Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Vishalya Sharma emphasised the importance of quality healthcare service, noting that it is essential to tackling illnesses and diseases.
Dr Sharma said the new facility reinforces the government’s commitment to strengthening the primary healthcare network.
