Latest update April 3rd, 2026 12:35 AM
Government paid private hospitals to clear backlog of ultrasound, ecg– Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – After discovering a backlog of ultrasound and the echocardiogram; President Irfaan Ali and other Government officials convened with the operators of the private hospitals to arrange for them to be paid to clear the backlog of the tests.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
This was revealed by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, during his press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown.
For those unfamiliar, an ultrasound scan, sometimes called a sonogram, is a procedure that uses high-frequency sound waves to create an image of part of the inside of the body. An echocardiogram, or “echo”, is a scan used to look at the heart and nearby blood vessels. An echo is a type of ultrasound scan.
During the press conference the VP said, “So we discovered over 2000 backlog of ultrasound and the echocardiogram that is about several hundred nearly a thousand of those backlogs at the GPHC (Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation).”
It was stated that a meeting was held at State House, where officials from hospitals like St. Joseph Mercy, Woodlands, Balwant Singh, Sheriff, and Davis Memorial met with President Ali, and Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony. Jagdeo added, “And we decided that they will help us clear the backlog, by paying them to clear the backlog.”
According to the Vice President the hospitals were charging $6,000 to $8,000 for an ultrasound, and $12-$15,000 for an echo. However, he noted that through negotiations, the hospitals agreed to charge $4000 and $6000 each to clear backlog of the ultrasound and echo, respectively.
“And that has allowed us now to clear a lot of the backlog, they had extra capacity, because we care about the people and we did it with all the hospitals so that we can clear up the backlog for people there,” Jagdeo added.
Notably, he also shared that the Government is buying three machines to do the echocardiogram.
Moreover, responding to rumours surrounding the Government’s operations as it relates to the Georgetown Public Hospital, Jagdeo refuted claims that the Government has been underfunding the City hospital. He highlighted that the Government has increased the hospital’s budget from some G$9.6B in 2019 to G$15.6 billion this year.
“They spread a rumour that we’re running down GPHC because we want to give the private hospitals work…so everybody in Guyana would have to go to private hospitals,” the Vice President said.
Jagdeo called the rumours stupid before highlighting that the Government has been on the forefront sharing its plans to invest US$600M on building 12 new hospitals to transform the healthcare system in Guyana.
In January, in Guyana’s largest budget ever, the Government allocated $84.9B for the country’s healthcare sector. About $1.8 billion was allocated for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Linden hospitals and for four telemedicine centres in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine.
A significant amount of the sums was directed towards the creation of much-needed hospitals and training healthcare professionals, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh said during the budget presentation.
In 2022, the government had allocated $74.5B for the healthcare sector.
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