The Government’s digitization plans for the public health sector is being tested with an online appointment system going through the early phases of testing at the Festival City Polyclinic in Georgetown.

At a press conference on Tuesday, President Irfaan Ali said the system when fully completed will be rolled out nationally at all public hospitals and clinics, allowing patients to easily set their own appointments, rather than to find themselves in lines at the medical institutions.

“We don’t want the lines that you see in the hospitals and clinics, we want to move the system into an app based system where you’ll have appointments, so you don’t have to waste your time or sit these clinics for hours. This pilot is being tested in the Festival City Polyclinic and we are anticipating that it will be fully implemented at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation within the first quarter of 2026 and then in all other regional hospitals and clinics across the country”, the President announced.

He said the second phase of the programme will see the six new Regional Hospitals being connected to the system by mid-2026. Additionally, the implementation of the ONE Health project is being implemented.

The US$ 22 million Guyana One Health Project was launched earlier this year and focuses on empowering the country to prevent, prepare for, and respond to health emergencies. The project is being funded through The World Bank.

On the implementation of the Electronic Patient Health Records System, the President said the initial phase of the project involved the digitization of the records of all patients at the Georgetown Hospital.

“Work commenced in March 2025, and is expected to conclude by mid-2026. Patient records at the Georgetown Hospital are expected to go live by the end of the first quarter in 2026 and then this will be rolled out across the country”, Ali said.

The President said his new Government will be paying added attention to the modernization of the local health sector and will be investing heavily in that area. He also announced that as part of the plans, a school health programme will be unveiled to cater for children in nursery, primary and secondary schools across the country.

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