The Ministry of Public Health has refused to address concerns about the licensing of health care facilities for this year, saying instead that processing of applications for next year has begun.
Former Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, in a letter to the media last week, had indicated that only two health care facilities in Guyana are operating with a licence for this year. These are the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital, with the latter, a private institution, having recently obtained its licence after it sent a lawyer’s letter to the Ministry of Public Health. Given the situation, every one of the health facilities operated by government and the private sector, other than the two licensed, are operating illegally, Ramsammy said.
He called on the Ministers of Public Health to explain, even as he said that health care facilities have been inquiring but have faced a non-responsive partner in the Ministry of Public Health. According to Ramsammy, several of them are now contemplating the approach of the Balwant Singh’s Hospital of sending lawyer’s inquiries.
