UK Company awarded US$3.3M contract to install Electronic Health Record system

UK-based company RioMed Limited has been awarded a US$3.3 million contract to design, supply, and install the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system in Guyana. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, marking a significant step towards modernising and digitising the country’s healthcare system.

“We went out to public tender, we got 14 expressions of interest and then the team when they did the evaluation they were looking at 98 different technical parameters, they narrowed that down to four and of that four we have a selection of one and that contract is now being awarded.

“A UK company won the bid and that bid is for US$3.3 million,” the health minister disclosed during his ministry’s yearend press conference.

The EHR initiative is part of a larger US$97 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded project.

Phase one of the EHR implementation will begin early in 2025 at the Georgetown Public Hospital and its satellite clinics. Following its success, the system will be expanded to other hospitals across the country.

“Phase one we expect that to start early in the new year, because we have now gotten past all the contracting part of it, so it is getting the company and doing the implementation,” Dr. Anthony said.

Dr. Anthony earlier in 2024 had revealed that the e-record system aims to enhance each patient healthcare experience by providing each citizen with a smart card containing their medical history, including diagnoses, test results, and medications.

Additionally, Dr Anthony said with the new Data Protection law, there are certain requirements that will have to be fulfilled to ensure that patient’s data are “properly” protected.