Four of Guyana’s public hospitals are set to be transformed into safer and greener facilities under the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) SMART Health Care Facilities Project.
This project, funded by the United Kingdom through its Department for International Development (DfID), is designed to help reduce mortality, morbidity and economic losses from natural disasters, to which many Caribbean nations are vulnerable. Over the next three years, a total of £38 million is expected to be spent to retrofit 50 facilities in seven Caribbean countries; namely Guyana, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Jamaica, Grenada and Dominica.
It is not yet known how much of this sum will be spent in Guyana but Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence told a press conference yesterday that the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, the Mabaruma Regional Hospital, the Leonora Cottage Hospital and the Lethem Regional Hospital have already been identified for funding, while the Paramakatoi Health Centre is also expected to be retrofitted based on the availability of funds.
