$6M budgeted to boost healthcare in Region Eight

Region Eight is, this year, receiving a boost in healthcare services with the acquisition of more long-term medical practitioners and added facilities, such as rehabilitation services.

According to Regional Executive Officer Ishwar Dass, this year’s National Budget has allocated Region Eight Gy$6 million to carry out significant upgrade to the Mahdia Hospital in order to accommodate added services, such as the rehabilitation centre. This, he noted, is very important, since there are several patients who would have suffered attacks of stroke or other impairment and need rehabilitative therapy.

The regional administration is preparing for a March 1 launch of the advertisement regarding tender for these works. Tender would also be advertised for purchase of required furniture and equipment, and upgrade of staff quarters. This year’s budget also caters for an allocation of Gy$9.5 million for the purchase of vehicles for land and water transport — another boost to the region’s healthcare.

At present, the Mahdia hospital has two doctors, one a Cuban, and the other is a Cuba-trained Guyanese. The region is also soon expecting more healthcare staff to fill posts that have been vacant for quite some time.

In the mountainous sub-region, a Medex was recently dispatched to Kato and is serving nearby villages. The former Medex resigned last year, but the region rehired him recently to service his own village, Kurukubaru, and surrounding large communities such as Kopinang and Itabac. This Medex also has four staff working along with him.

Moreover, Region Eight would see several other big developments that seek to further upgrade education in various communities. Some Gy$8.5 million is to be spent on extending the living quarters at the Mahdia Secondary School, where about 60 students from the villages of Micobie, El Paso and Princeville are now housed. The upgrading would see the dormitory being able to accommodate between 30 and 40 additional students when the new school year commences in September.

An additional Gy$7 million is earmarked to upgrade the teachers’ living quarters, as the school prepares for arrival of several new trained teachers. These activities are taking place in light of the Mahdia Secondary School planning to prepare its first batch of students to write the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council examinations (CSEX/CXC) in May 2011.

Further, the sum of Gy$9 million would soon be spent on extension of the Mahdia Primary School, which is currently overcrowded.

In the Pakaraimas sub-region, the regional administration would be spending Gy$7 million to reconstruct the Industrial Arts Centre at the Paramakatoi school. This is part of the region’s work to replace the existing wooden structures in the communities with concrete buildings, which reduce maintenance costs.

At that community also, Gy$8 million is earmarked for extension and upgrade works to the Paramakatoi Primary School. The REO explained that the soil on the mountain atop which the village is situated is a type of sand/clay mix, and this causes some erosion of the school’s foundation. Just last week, as soon as he arrived for a farmers’ meeting in the village, the school’s head teacher and students approached Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud to make representation for urgent upgrade of their school. The school delegation not only complained about the poor infrastructure, but also about the lack of teaching aids and supplies.

“This is the last piece of chalk I hold here in my hands,” the head teacher complained to the minister, as the students surround- ed the government official and sought his intervention. The minister immediately made radio contact with the regional authorities in Mahdia to seek clarification on the issue. The administrators there advised the minister that supplies for the school would be available that very day.

However, the minister expressed disgust that such a situation had been allowed to develop since, he noted to residents, the government allocates increasing sums each year to provide adequate education and healthcare services to citizens.

He contended that communities, especially in the hinterland, should not have to wait until a minister of government arrives to seek basic supplies.