Georgetown : Guyana’s new Supplies Chain Management Complex also known as the Materials Management Unit located in Diamond, East Bank Demerara was formally commissioned last evening.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said “Today is a great step in the overall development of our country, it is a great step forward in the provision of steadily improving health services.”
Also performing the duties of president, Mr. Hinds pointed out that the administration has been, over the years, investing in the upgrade of facilities like health huts, health centers and hospitals throughout the country. This has been possible through support from the government and people of Cuba in the provision of training for many doctors. In this regard, the new facility is a good example of managing the supply chain.
The assistance from Cuba has transcended the availability of skilled personnel in the health care system when compared to a period where there were limited medical professionals.
PM Hinds indicated that despite the challenges along the way, there has been a call for citizens to be more responsible over their state of health.
The complex is 26,691 feet of active storage and consists of modern racks and refrigeration applications which cater for products such as vaccines and insulin. Its role is to accurately forecast the medical and pharmaceutical needs of the nation procure supplies in a timely manner and efficiently distribute them to health care institutions, in order to meet the needs of the patients.
The facility is expected to become a warehousing center of excellence in the Caribbean, facilitating distribution of medicines while significantly improving Guyana’s supply chain by housing essential medical commodities at one location. It has built-in temperature-controlled rooms to ensure that medicines do not expire prematurely and will make use of efficient and modern inventory systems to prevent spoilage and facilitate timely acquisition of needed medicines, while ensuring Guyana’s population has access to pharmaceutical products of the highest quality.
Jointly financed by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Global Fund – the new warehouse stands as an example of multi-donor collaboration and partnership with the Government of Guyana which also contributed human and financial resources.
United States Ambassador to Guyana, Mr Brent Hardt recognised that the commissioning of the facility marks the culmination of five years of planning, coordination, hard work and perseverance. “We are pleased to see the culmination of this vital stepping stone on the road to ensuring that Guyana’s pharmaceutical management operations are world class,” he said.
In his remarks, Ambassador Hardt emphasised that the US is committed to scaling-up combination and prevention treatment for mother-to-child transmission and other HIV/AIDS related cases, promoting sustainability, efficiency and effectiveness, and working towards creating an AIDS-free generation and using science as a guide for all efforts.
Those bench-marks were outlined last November by the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she released the PEPFAR Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-free Generation.
The Ambassador explained that the blueprint provides a road map both for how PEPFAR will work to achieve an AIDS-free generation and what needs to be done to help bring countries to and beyond the tipping point of their epidemics.
Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran in his presentation placed emphasis on the sustainability and adequate management of the facility. He likened the construction and final materialisation of the facility with pregnancy and child birth and the need for care and support with its upbringing.
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