Guyana to introduce ‘one card’ system for consolidated electronic transactions

Guyana’s data management system is set to change soon with the introduction of a new project that aims to consolidate all transactions onto one electronic card.

Dubbed the ‘one card’ the electronic system will link all transactions, including banking, social benefits, identification, licensing, and taxes, onto a single platform.

This was disclosed by President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali Tuesday afternoon, as he revealed several undertakings being streamlined to significantly transform the country.

“This card is going to help force the banking sector, the insurance sector, it’s going to force government. Everybody will now have to migrate to the electronic platform that will support conducting business, bringing efficiency, reducing the cost of doing business, improving transparency, accountability, and advancing a modern governance architecture.”

The president said the concept, which has been successfully implemented in India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will soon be introduced here through partnerships with international companies.

He noted that the development is a major step towards improving data management and streamlining transactions for Guyanese.

The project is expected to have a significant impact on the country’s development, as it will simplify the process of accessing services and reduce bureaucracy.

The single information device will lead to more efficient use of resources and ultimately result in improved service delivery and is a significant milestone in the country’s drive towards modernisation.

It is hoped that the innovative approach to data management will set a benchmark for other countries to follow.

“We cannot build [Guyana] in a straight-line way… We are too far behind to believe that we can catch up on the straight line. We have to skip the hurdles, get to the best and then work backward in bringing our people to accept the best and that is what we are doing,” the president emphasised.

Exciting developments are also underway in the health sector, with the development of patient management information systems.

President Ali underscored that the upgrade in the healthcare technology will create a global patient management information platform, allowing all health information to be stored on the ‘one card.’

He reminded that the healthcare system is advancing its telemedicine programme that will be accessible to patients nationwide, noting that with this programme in place, patients in remote areas will be able to access medical care without having to travel long distances.

“Already, we have a number of our health hubs… connected to the Georgetown hospital through the telemedicine portal and we are having great results. We are working on development of the first mental health management platform for the region and we are now looking at the technical pieces to launch that. So mental health will now have a data driven electronic platform that we can identify hotspots,” the head of state revealed.

Additionally, the government is currently in talks with top-notch technology companies to help reduce the cost of delivering medical supplies to rural areas.

“For example, DSL, FedEx, companies that have little packages to deliver to mining camps. If we all come together, we can then buy into the technology that allows the movement of small amount of resources, checks, everything, to be launched through this infrastructure that will save tremendous time, reduce tremendous cost of doing business,” Dr Ali added.