Cabinet has approved the award of a Gy$ 97 million for the site preparation of a plot of land at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara which is earmarked for the construction of a specialty hospital.
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon on Wednesday at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing said the allocation will go towards land preparation and enclosure, and the installation of utilities, roads and such infrastructure that would be needed for a specialty hospital to operate to its fullest potential. That hospital is to be constructed by the government of India.
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon
In February, former President Bharrat Jagdeo visited India and upon his return, said the construction of the facility is expected to start before yearend. The tender process for the construction of the US$ 18 million specialty hospital was done in India.
It is believed that once established, the facility could attract patients from Brazil and other South American neighbours, as well as the U. S.
India provides high- quality medical care to medical tourists, which is one of the major external drivers of growth of the Indian health-care sector.
When asked by the media to explain the grant of Gy$ 97 million for site preparation, Dr Luncheon assured that no grant was given by the government of India to Guyana and as such the government of India would be covering the expenditure as it relates to construction of the hospital.
“Let me explain that you might have misunderstood the former president, I don’t believe a grant was identified by the partners, the government of Guyana and the government of India as the financial instrument, the bank – Exim Bank of India has made available and approved the funding at concessionary terms, so it is not a grant,” Luncheon told the media.
Luncheon noted that “the construction has to be seen as different from the site preparation”. Guyana had told the Indian government that it is ready to use a US$ 18 million line of credit to build a specialty hospital to do complicated surgeries, ranging from heart operations and organ transplants to cosmetic surgery.
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