The Ministry of Health has signed a US$3.3 Million contract with RioMed Limited – a UK company – to develop and implement an Electronic Health Record (HER) system.

The contract was signed at the Ministry of Health’s Brickdam Office on Tuesday by the Permanent Secretary Malcolm Watkins and the Managing Director of RioMed, Mario Mohammed.

It was done in the presence of Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Country Representative, Lorena Solorzano Salazar and the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller.

Minister Anthony said the IDB funded project will significantly improve access by patients to their health records, while addressing many of the challenges in the existing paper-based system.

“One of the things we want to do with this system is to make sure that every single citizen of our country would have a unique identifier, and with that unique identifier, when they come to the public health system, they can use that, they can access their health record, that can be done at a very short time because right now, despite our best effort through the manual record, we still have to search and sometimes all the paper is not in one place, somebody misplace it in some file, it becomes problematic, and somebody is sitting there, waiting for hours sometimes, that’s what we want to remove,” the Health Minister explained. 

Once implemented, patients will also be able to make their doctor’s appointment via their smart phones.

According to the Health Ministry, the legislative framework has already been put in place to safeguard patient information with stiff penalties in place for breach of information. Healthcare professional can be fined a minimum of $20M for disclosing or sharing patient’s health record while companies, can face penalties as high as $100M.

The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) is piloting the project.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Hospital, Robbie Rambarran said the project will improve the quality and delivery of patient care.

“Implementing this EHR System will enable us to transition us from traditional paper-based process to a streamline digital solution that empowers our clinicians, improve patient outcome, and enhance the overall experience for everyone, who entrust us with their care,” Rambarran said.

It was explained that at the Georgetown Hospital, there are separate records for the various clinics and departments, and the Electronic Health Record System would help to streamline the hospital’s records, allowing for easier access to patients’ records.

The IDB Country Representative said the “transformative project” is an important step towards ensuring that Guyanese have access to “high quality and timely healthcare.”

“The EHR implementation represents more than just an investment in the digital infrastructure system. It is a new way of interacting within the health sector, within the health services, how we can provide better services to the people,” the IDB Country Representative said.

The IDB, she said, is cognizant of the importance of having the health systems work in unison at the primary level right up to national level, while maximizing the efficient use of available resources, and providing the necessary healthcare throughout the 10 Administrative Regions.

The Managing Director of RioMed Limited, Mario Mohammed explained that through the project, RioMed intends to improve the quality, safety and efficiency by which healthcare is delivered in Guyana.

He said the system augurs well for both patients and the healthcare system. He said RioMed is committed to the successful completion and implementation of the EHR System.

The project is expected to be developed and implemented within a period of 18 months.

Related posts:

Electronic Health Records system to be rolled out this month Health Minister reveals three maternal deaths recorded since start of 2025 Health Ministry to start training of 1000 new nurses within two months -Dr. Anthony Pediatric and Maternal Health hospital to be world class facility -says Health Minister