Gov’t will lead all of Guyana to collective prosperity – Minister Anthony
Under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Government, Guyanese this year will benefit from numerous services, including, improved healthcare facilities, adequate medication, and new services, among others to ensure citizens are satisfied and comfortable while receiving health care in the public sector.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, M.P. while making his contributions on the government’s 2022 budget on Thursday, said the Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali- led government will lead the people of Guyana into collective prosperity.
“Under the leadership of President Ali and this government and its budget, we are going to lead the people of this country to collective prosperity, not one set of people, or that set of people, but all the people will be led to prosperity,” he said.
Minister Anthony said the 2022 budget will restore “fairness” by expanding benefits to every citizen.
The minister argued that the health sector has seen devastating impacts under the tenure of the APNU+AFC Government. He said the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) at Liliendaal, which was expected to help fight the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, was just a “shell” until the PPP/C Government took office in 2020.
“What we took over was a building that was not even ready to be a hospital…it had no electricity, it had no water, it had no sewage, it had no oxygen, it had no equipment,” Dr. Anthony said.
The minister further stated that the hospital is now equipped with ventilators and other equipment necessary to support and treat patients with the severe form of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, with $73.2 billion allocated in the budget to further develop the health sector, massive improvements will be seen. Citizens will be able to access numerous services such as cardiac surgeries and free dialysis for diabetic patients.
The health minister said the PPP/C Government “will ensure that we take health care to the next level” as he alluded to the construction of a maternal and child healthcare facility and tackling the issues of chronic diseases, cancer, mental health and suicide.
“Mr. Speaker very shortly, we will be bringing to the House two pieces of legislation, one dealing with suicide prevention and the other one dealing with mental health services,” the minister related.
Additionally, Minister Anthony said this year, citizens will have access to medications and other medical services. He reminded the House that close to $10 billion in expired drugs was disposed of under the APNU+AFC Coalition, although the country was suffering shortages in medical supplies at the time.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony said an important aspect of the budget which will transform the health sector is the money allocated to build new state-of-the-art healthcare facilities which will provide comfortable and improved services to Guyanese.
“One of the main things in this budget that is going to transform the health sector is the hospitals that we will be building, there are six new hospitals,” Minister Anthony said.
Budget 2022 was presented under the theme ‘Steadfast against all challenges, resolute in building our One Guyana.’