Dear Editor,
A Special Investigative Missive for the Guyanese Public. The mask has finally slipped. Yesterday’s investigative report by the Sunday Stabroek has confirmed what Azruddin Mohamed of the WIN Party bravely exposed on social media[1]: the Ogle Pediatric and Maternal Hospital is a ghost site. No workers. No active machinery. No medical equipment. Just a skeletal “white elephant” mocking the Guyanese people from the side of the highway. As a social justice advocate, I am opening Pandora’s Box today to reveal a financial anomaly that the Ministry of Health has kept shrouded in secrecy.
In the 2022 Budget, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh allocated $12.4 Billion for this hospital. In the 2024 Budget, another $10.3 Billion was earmarked to “sustain” the project. Here is the contradiction: This project is officially funded by a €161 Million loan from UK Export Finance (UKEF). Under these international agreements, the bank pays the contractor directly based on “deliverables”—actual work done. If the project is stalled and the building is an empty shell, what were the billions in local budgetary allocations used for? Why is the Guyanese taxpayer pouring billions in cash into a project that is already covered by a 100% foreign loan? Is this a double-dip into the public purse?
The stagnation is no accident. The original contractor, Vamed, has abandoned its international business. In a frantic move to save its parent company (Fresenius), Vamed’s projects were sold off to Worldwide Hospitals Group (WWH). While President Ali was “turning the sod” and making grand promises to health workers, the company he hired was already planning its exit. The transition from Vamed to WWH has created a legal vacuum. The “slothful pace” the President complained about in late 2024 has now turned into a total halt in December 2025.
To the average commuter, the Ogle structure looks “impressive.” But as the Sunday Stabroek revealed, the interior is a vacuum. A modern hospital is not just concrete; it is a complex web of medical gas lines, lead-shielding for radiation, and climate-controlled HVAC systems.
• There is no sign of this technical fit-out.
• There is no sign of the high-tech pediatric cardiac units.
By the time this building is actually “ready,” the technology we paid for in 2022 will be obsolete, and the interest on our UKEF (€161M) loans will have ballooned.
President Ali urged our nurses and doctors to stay in Guyana, promising them “world-class facilities.” He used this hospital as a carrot to keep our healthcare heroes from migrating. But you cannot treat a sick child with a press release, and you cannot perform surgery in an empty concrete shell.
Hard questions for the Ministry of Health:
The Budget Discrepancy: If the project is 100% funded by UK Export Finance, why has over $23 Billion GYD been allocated to it across the 2022 and 2024 National Budgets? Where did that cash go?
The Stabroek Findings: Why was the site abandoned yesterday with equipment parked and no workforce present? Is the contractor, WWH, currently in a payment dispute with the Government?
The Novation Delay: Did the Government fail to secure the legal transfer of the UKEF loan from Vamed to WWH, causing the “freeze” we are seeing today?
The 2024 deadline: This project had a 2-year deadline from June 2022. We are now in December 2025. Who is being held accountable for this 18-month (and counting) delay?
The Missing Equipment: Is it true that the medical equipment procurement is stalled because the building does not yet meet the basic environmental “dust-free” standards required by manufacturers?
Guyana’s healthcare is being held hostage by corporate restructuring and government mismanagement. We don’t want more sod-turning; we want the truth.