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Gov’t to create incentives for private healthcare – VP Jagdeo
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo said as part of the broader vision of building a world-class healthcare system for all Guyanese, his government will create incentives for private healthcare.
The VP made the disclosure during his weekly press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown.
Speaking briefly about the health sector during his press conference, Jagdeo said the government is currently delivering more tertiary care at the various public hospitals which include joint and hip replacement surgeries, cardiac care, and stenting just to name a few. “A whole range of things done in public institutions and that will only grow,” he noted.
In addition to providing these services, the Vice President added, “…and then we are collaborating with the private sector on delivering other kinds of tertiary care that we can deliver by offsetting some of the cost or co-investing with them like we did with the CHI we did in the early years so that we can bring the cost down.”
According to the VP, all of these things are part of a plan that his government intends to roll out.
“Along with the improvement in public healthcare, we are also working to create incentives for private healthcare,” he announced.
“So, we have removed the corporate taxes very early in the first budget that we passed because we had promised that in our manifesto, we removed the custom duties, the VAT on equipment that they are using to modernise. If they are bringing new MRI or CT – scan or other things more advanced equipment in the sector, they don’t have to pay taxes now we have removed a lot of the taxes on medical supplies,” he further explained.
Meanwhile, turning his attention on health infrastructure, the VP stated that with the hopes of having all the brand-new hospitals being constructed in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six be commissioned before the elections period, there are plans to upgrade others.
For example, he said the Bartica Hospital in Region Seven will be upgraded, while some $30 million has been set aside to rehabilitate the Linden Hospital in Region 10.
According to Jagdeo, when the Child and Maternity Hospital is completed at Ogle, all services being offered at the Georgetown Public Hospital will relocate there.
“Once we move out the children maternity section from the Georgetown Hospital to Ogle then Georgetown Hospital, a lot of the buildings will be pulled down and we have a modernisation plan for the entire Georgetown Hospital too. So, with Play Parks and everything in the compound there,” he mentioned.
The $12.4 billion Ogle Pediatric and Maternal Hospital being constructed on the East Coast of Demerara, was awarded to VAMED on June 8, 2022.
Once completed, the hospital will feature 256 beds and cover 24,000 square meters of gross floor area. It will include an imaging suite equipped with CT scans, X-rays, and MRI scanning equipment, as well as a modern laboratory to conduct sophisticated tests.
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