Health Minister, Dr Bheri Ramsaran said preparatory work for the construction of the multimillion-dollar Specialty Hospital is expected to resume soon.
The health minister told Guyana Times International that the Ramotar administration is very passionate about having the hospital constructed and will work hard to ensure that this vision is fulfilled. Some Gy$34.4 million was approved by the National Assembly recently for the Specialty Hospital.
“The ministry is in the process of getting other things done, like proper site preparation. ‘Surrendra’ company would have won the bid, so they have taken over the site officially and we hope that work will start being visible from now on,” Dr Ramsaran added. The ministry, he said, is in constant contact with engineers from both Surrendra Engineering and Vikab Engineering. Vikab Engineering was contracted to do the consultancy for the construction of the new hospital.
Dr Ramsaran noted that a deadline cannot be fixed at this time, since the work was stalled for a while and things will have to be re-aligned before such detail is provided. “We had a lot of adjustments, because of the ruckus, it was put on hold. It is now being discussed with our ministry and stakeholders…. So we have to wait and see what happens before we make any pronouncement on a deadline.”
During the 2013 national budget debate, a Gy$1.25 billion provision for the controversial hospital was cut by the opposition. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had pointed to the government’s lack of dialogue on the opposition’s position that the formulation of the deal was not transparent.
In August the same year, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said a consultancy contract was awarded to ensure government gets “value for money”.
The construction of the hospital is part of an agreement between the government of Guyana and India, for Guyana to use US$18 million through a line of credit to build the hospital. The hospital is being built to cater for complicated surgeries, ranging from heart operations, organ transplants to cosmetic surgery.
