The Ministry of Health has signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with a number of healthcare service providers, as it prepares to roll out a healthcare initiative that will see some 500,000 Guyanese having access to $10,000 health vouchers to receive specialized care.
The vouchers are intended to subsidize the costs for eye testing and spectacles, cervical cancer screening, and universal healthcare.
The universal healthcare voucher programme is being rolled out for the very first time, while the other two voucher programmes were initiated last year.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Malcolm Watkins, said the Government is working to address issues that arose in 2024, particularly with regards to the issuance of payments.
“We really appreciate the feedback, and they are very candid. We sat down with the internal team, went through those feedbacks and tried to improve those systems to make this year a bit more seamless. We understand that last year, there were delays in payment, and I can tell you know we have resolved that with the Ministry of Finance,” the Permanent Secretary said.
The voucher programme forms part of a menu of measures that were included in the this year’s National Budget.
The Health Voucher initiative is aimed at providing the best possible care to citizens, the Government has said.
It will be available to Guyanese to help finance various health tests. It is expected to cost the government approximately $5B, potentially reaching 500,000 people.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the Government launched its Newborn Cash Grant initiative targeting more than 2,000 babies born in Guyana to Guyanese mothers.
Each mother will receive a grant of $100,000. The initiative is expected to amount of $1.3B annually.
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