As King Charles III arrives in Guyana to celebrate expanding British-Guyanese commercial ties, many uncomfortable questions hang over the royal visit. Chief among them is this: How did the €160 million, British-financed Georgetown Maternal and Paediatric Hospital, launched with such fanfare, end in termination and international arbitration—with the hospital still unfinished and Guyanese mothers and children left waiting?
There is considerably more to this story than the public has been told.
Consider three developments:
- Certified construction work went unpaid—even though British-backed financing was in place. VIKAB, the government’s appointed contract engineer, issued Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) certifying completed work. Yet the Ministry of Health failed to process the necessary payment authorisations. The project was still within its loan repayment grace period, meaning Guyana had not yet been required to begin repaying the financing.
- VAMED kept building anyway. For more than a year, we continued financing construction from our own resources despite prolonged nonpayment. Senior executives repeatedly travelled to Guyana and proposed solutions to keep the hospital project alive.
- Then the financing agreement expired. In November 2025, the government allowed the loan agreement to lapse without renewing it or informing VAMED, even as we continued working to resolve the impasse.
Why would a government celebrate a major British-backed hospital investment, fail to process payments certified by its own engineer, allow the financing agreement to expire, and ultimately terminate the contractor trying to complete the project?
Something went badly wrong. The question is what—and why.
João Pedro Teles, VAMED’s institutional representative in Guyana, said:
“There is much more to this story than the public has been told. We have a pretty good idea of what was really going on behind the scenes. Now it’s time for Guyana’s journalists to start asking the government some uncomfortable questions.”
FIVE AWKWARD QUESTIONS HANGING OVER THE ROYAL VISIT
- President Irfaan Ali — Is this becoming a pattern?
Guyana announces ambitious, high-profile infrastructure projects, only to see major contracts descend into costly disputes and arbitration. The Lindsayca/CH4 gas-to-energy dispute has already generated controversy over reported payments and confidentiality. Is the VAMED hospital dispute heading down the same road? Will the government eventually negotiate a substantial settlement behind closed doors while the public is left wondering what went wrong—and who was responsible?
- Health Minister Frank Anthony — Why wasn’t VAMED paid for work your own engineer certified?
Why did the Ministry of Health fail to process payment certificates issued by VIKAB, the government’s appointed contract engineer? Why were certified amounts left unpaid, despite repeated reminders, while the Ministry continued allowing VAMED to carry out construction for more than a year at its own expense? Who decided not to authorise those payments, and why?
- Finance Minister Ashni Singh — Why was the British-backed financing allowed to expire?
Why did the Ministry of Finance allow the loan agreement to lapse in November 2025 without informing VAMED? And why did the government continue demanding further construction work and contractual concessions while the financing needed to pay for that work remained unresolved?
- King Charles III — Has anyone given you an adequate explanation of what really happened?
Your Majesty, as Britain and Guyana celebrate their commercial relationship, has anyone explained why a flagship British-financed hospital remains unfinished, why certified work went unpaid, and why the project ended in international arbitration? Have you received a satisfactory account of what went wrong?
- British High Commissioner Joseph Fisher — Could this damage the special relationship between Britain and Guyana?
Are you concerned that the treatment of an established international contractor on a major British-financed project could undermine confidence in future UK investment? What explanations has the Guyanese government provided, and are you satisfied with them? Could this dispute affect Britain’s willingness to support other major projects in Guyana?
BACKGROUND
The Georgetown Maternal and Paediatric Hospital was launched in 2022 with approximately €160 million in UK Export Finance support.
VAMED is an internationally established healthcare developer with a track record of more than 1,000 healthcare projects worldwide and a formal cooperation relationship with UK Export Finance dating to 2018.
VAMED encourages Guyanese journalists to independently request the certified Interim Payment Certificates, payment-processing records and correspondence surrounding the expiration of the loan agreement from the relevant government ministries.
Perhaps the most important story surrounding the King’s visit isn’t what Britain and Guyana plan to build next. It’s what really happened to the hospital they were supposed to have built already.
