President Ali highlights $3B cardiac investment transforming local healthcare access
Thousands of Guyanese have received life-saving cardiac treatment at home over the past five years, backed by nearly $3 billion in government support through the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI).
These investments rarely make headlines, but are quietly reshaping what healthcare access looks like for ordinary citizens, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali said last Friday evening at the opening of Optique Eye Hospital.
The president pointed to cardiac services as one of several areas where government spending is translating directly into lives saved and families spared the burden of seeking treatment abroad.
“I was looking at the numbers over the last five years, and in cardiac services alone, just at the Caribbean Health Institute, we have supported Guyanese with an investment of almost $3 billion,” he said, before mentioning hat, “We don’t go shout upon a mountain every day, but these are the investments we are making.”
The CHI, which is housed within the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) compound, remains the country’s premier integrated cardiac facility.
It handles everything from electrocardiograms (EKGs) to open-heart surgery and has, in recent years, introduced advanced procedures previously unavailable in Guyana and much of the Eastern Caribbean.
President Ali spoke against what he termed a culture of amplifying negativity on social media while ignoring tangible progress. He pointed to the Lethem Regional Hospital as one example of how targeted investment is changing outcomes.
“Two years ago, thousands of patients had to leave Lethem to go to Brazil for treatment, and 90 per cent of anything technical had to be medivaced to Georgetown,” he noted. “Today, medivac is less than two per cent, and now we have thousands of Brazilians coming to Lethem for treatment.”
President Ali said the cardiac investment is part of a wider story about valuing the Guyana that Guyanese are building. He also tied it to a broader vision of creating a care-economy that encompasses childcare, elderly care, home care, and health services.
The president stated that his government will continue to work with responsible private healthcare providers who share a commitment to quality, affordability, ethics, and national development.
To enhance cardiac care services across Guyana, the government has partnered with Northwell Health and the George Subraj Foundation. The George Subraj Foundation has committed $209 million to support a national cardiac care initiative, which will be directed towards research, training, and improving cardiovascular care nationwide.
The government has added another Catheterisation Laboratory (CATH lab) at GPHC to improve patient services, in line with the president’s promise to enhance the hospital’s cardiology department.