Private investments key to positioning Guyana as hub for medical tourism – Pres Ali

President Dr Irfaan Ali has underscored the importance of private investments in advancing his government’s agenda of positioning Guyana as a premier destination for medical tourism in the region.

The Head of State made this remark on Friday evening during the inauguration of the US$5 million (G$1 billion) Optique Eye Hospital in Georgetown. Built by Optique Care Vision, this state-of-the-art facility provides comprehensive ophthalmology services, including examinations, advanced diagnostics, and specialized surgeries such as cataract, glaucoma, orbit and oculoplastic, corneal, pterygium, and vitreoretinal procedures.

According to Ali, while attention has been focused on the government’s efforts to transform healthcare locally, the significant investments being made in private healthcare services are equally notable – the construction of this eye hospital being one.

“Private healthcare providers play an essential role in expanding services, raising standards, reducing waiting times, introducing new technologies, and, importantly, aligning with national goals. They complement the national healthcare system, broaden patient choice, and create healthy competition that improves quality. But beyond that, private healthcare investment also lays the foundation for something much bigger and something that is part of our vision for our country. That something is medical tourism.”

“Guyana wants to become a prime destination for medical tourism. We want our country to be known not only for its natural beauty, its energy potential, and its economic growth, but also for excellence in healthcare services. We want people from across the Caribbean, from the diaspora, from North America, and beyond, to look to Guyana as a place where they can receive high-quality, affordable, efficient, modern medical care. I would like to see the private sector continue to drive this process at an even faster pace,” the Guyanese leader posited.

Incentivizing private investments

In fact, in order to push the transformation of the local healthcare sector, the Guyana Government has been incentivizing private investments – something that President Ali says the country is leading in.

“The investments that we are making are to align our health services with the care economy because the care economy is not just a provision of health services. It’s an entire ecosystem that will allow us to provide services for economic value and financial returns, and that is why the private sector is critical to this national strategy, and that is why we have incentivized healthcare and the private sector like no other country in this region, and I dare say we are among the top 5 percent globally when it comes to incentives for investment in healthcare,” he noted.