Construction of medical bonds more feasible – Min. Lawrence

DPI, Guyana, Saturday, July 27, 2019

The government’s decision to construct medical bonds is a “cost-effective and convenient option as opposed to renting and having items stored at several offsite locations”.

This is according to Minister of Public Health, Hon. Volda Lawrence. She was at the time appearing on 94.1 FM’s radio programme the ‘Hot Seat’, alongside her Coalition colleague, Prime Minister, Hon. Moses Nagamootoo.

The minister noted that the move to construct bonds for the storage of drugs, medical supplies, equipment and other items utilised by the public health sector has been regarded as more feasible since there has been a need for more storage capacity for these items.

More importantly, with the new system for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies which was introduced in 2018, the ministry will require much more storage facilities than it would have already had. This new procurement process ensures that that drugs for the incoming year are procured in the current year.

“The government through the Ministry of Public Health procures drugs for our health system across the ten administrative regions. We are not talking about a couple of boxes or a couple of bottles we are talking about billions of dollars in drugs and medical supplies… so the sensible thing to do is to ensure that we invest in storage capacity,” Minister Lawrence explained.

The Central Supplies Unit in Kingston, Georgetown

Citing the recently commissioned $539M Central Supplies Unit Bond in Kingston, the minister debunked the claim that “business was being taken away from private businesses”.

She said the Coalition government aims to “ensure that we [government] spend smart, that we get value for our money and that we continue to provide the adequacy in terms of us being able to meet the storage regulations of Guyana. So, all of that is captured in what we have done.”

Also, a new multimillion-dollar annex of the Materials Management Unit (MMU), valued $161M was also commissioned in June. At the opening ceremony, Minister Lawrence noted that the investment made was most fitting as large sums of money had to be spent on rental of storage space.

The Public Health Minister said the construction of bonds will help the ministry to better manage the items within its purview, particularly as the ministry continues to expand its medical services across Guyana. Minister Lawrence said, with this sort of investment, comes the demand for more medical supplies.

The full interview can be viewed on the link provided.