Gov’t committed to bringing development to ‘all’ communities – Min Anthony

– Major health facilities planned for East Coast corridor

The government is committed to bringing development to ‘all’ communities, in an effort to enhance the lives of Guyanese by meeting their social, economic, and health needs.

During the third community outreach hosted at the Victoria Community Ground on Saturday, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony addressed the concerns of residents.

“One of the things that we have been doing over the last year or so is going out to various communities to talk to people to get a sense of their concerns to see what the government can do for you because we want to bring that development, not at the national level, do the big things but we are also interested in doing the small things as well,” he noted.

Minister Anthony took the opportunity to highlight a number of initiatives being rolled out along the East Coast Demerara corridor that will significantly benefit residents of Victoria and surrounding communities.

Health

The initiatives include a new comprehensive Diabetic Centre at Lusignan for persons who suffer from diabetes and are in need of specialised care such as ophthalmology, foot care and more.

Works at the centre have recently commenced and are being monitored for future implementation across the country.

He said that, “If this works well as we envisage, then we will be able to use this model in other parts of the country.”

Additionally, the minister announced the construction of a new hospital at the Enmore Polyclinic. He noted that construction works are expected to be completed by 2025.

The hospital will have a 24-hour Accident and Emergency Unit, state-of-the-art labs, and CT scans, among other services.  

This is in addition to 75 inpatient beds and three operating theatres.

Minister Anthony said, “you don’t have to go to Georgetown. It will be right within the community,” as the hospital will have all the necessary features to service residents.

Another, health facility set to significantly benefit residents along the East Coast Corridor is the first speciality Maternal and Children’s Hospital at Ogle. The outreach was led by Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d ) Mark Phillips, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud, Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Charles Ramson, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy and Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues.