An environmental impact study has been waived for a planned state-of-the-art Paediatric and Maternal Hospital which will offer specialised care to patients.
In a notice issued in Wednesday’s Guyana Chronicle newspaper, the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that the proposed project, located at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD), has been exempt from the requirement to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) since it will not significantly affect the environment.
The proposed site for the construction of the specialised hospital consists of Plots 7 and 8 Plantation Goedverwagting, ECD.
The cost for the project is not known at this time. However, in January this year, Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh had indicated that the hospital will be funded under the Health Ministry’s 2022 budget.
Singh had said that out of the $16.1 billion allocated to the ministry’s major expansion in public health care facilities project, $14.1 billion would be used in the design and construction of the hospital and the upgrading of the West Demerara and Bartica regional hospitals.
The building will be a four-storey structure, which will comprise of in-patient and out-patient services, a paediatric section, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), obstetrics department, operating suite, maternal section, pharmacy, laboratory and administration offices.
The project summary, which is posted on the EPA’s website, said the Paediatric and Maternal Hospital will serve as the national specialist referral hospital for children and would assist in the management of complicated pediatric, gynecology and obstetrics cases.
The hospital is expected to offer state-of-the-art services from the time of conception to newborns, infants, children, adolescents and will draw greater attention to the holistic approach with psycho-social support for children as well as their families during the treatment programmes, it added.
The contract for the design of the hospital has been awarded to Austrian company VAMED.
According to the company’s website, VAMED is a global provider for hospitals and other facilities in the healthcare sector.
It said that it portfolio ranges from project development, planning and turnkey construction via maintenance, technical, commercial and infrastructure services to the total facility management of healthcare facilities.
The goals and objectives of the construction of the facility is to reduce the mortality occurrence for maternal, neonatal, prenatal, postnatal patients as well as improve the management of medical and surgical pediatric patients and improve the management of subspecialty medical and surgical care.
