VAMED Engineering, one of the world’s leaders in delivering healthcare projects, is awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to build the country’s first ultra-modern Pediatric and Maternal Hospital.
According to the project summary, the institution is expected to offer state-of-the-art services from the time of conception to newborns, infants, children, and adolescents, and provide psycho-social support to children as well as their families during the treatment programmes.
In Guyana’s health care system, VAMED noted that there are five levels of care: Level 1: Health Posts providing basic primary health care services at the community level; Level 2: Health Centres providing primary health care at the community level; Level 3: District Hospitals, with in-patient beds, providing secondary-level health services to a catchment area comprising several communities; Level 4: Regional Hospitals providing a higher level of secondary health care and introducing a level of tertiary care services and Level 5: National Referral Hospitals, providing a wide range of tertiary care services and also serving as teaching hospitals.
The Austrian company said Guyana has made significant improvements in maternal and child health in the last three decades. Be that as it may, it said maternal mortality continues to be above the regional average and far above the goals the government had previously established.
Reports from the Inter-American Development Bank also support this viewpoint. One document seen by Guyana Standard notes that the country continues to experience one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a maternal mortality rate estimated at 121 per 1,000 live births and an infant mortality rate of 22 per 1,000 live births
To improve this state of affairs, VAMED pointed out that a Level 5 Hospital dedicated to pediatric and maternal health will provide significant training opportunities for Registrar level doctors, experienced GMOs, Pediatric nurses, and midwives. The Guyana Pediatric and Maternal Hospital will also serve as the national specialist referral hospital for children and would assist in the management of complicated pediatric, gynecology, and obstetrics cases. It said the overall objective is to improve health equity, increase access to quality health care, and increase life expectancy in Guyana.
Earlier this year, Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh had told the nation that of the $16.1B allocated to the major expansion in public health care facilities, $14.1B will be used in the design and construction of the Pediatric and Maternal Hospital and the upgrading of the West Demerara and Bartica regional hospitals.
