VAMED Engineering has released to the public photographic evidence strongly suggesting that, by at least November 2025, Guyana’s Ministry of Health was already secretly exploring Chinese contractors to replace VAMED on the Georgetown Maternal and Paediatric Hospital project. Yet for another eight months, the Ministry allowed VAMED to continue construction, invest millions of U.S. dollars of its own money, and work without receiving outstanding payments — all while repeatedly assuring the company that it was negotiating in good faith to resolve the dispute. The government ultimately terminated VAMED’s contracts on July 23, 2026.
Photographs dated November 20, 2025, show representatives wearing the insignia of Chinese contractor SINOMACH entering the site accompanied by personnel from VIKAB Guyana Ltd., the Ministry’s appointed supervising engineer, without VAMED’s knowledge or authorization.
SINOMACH is the parent company of China CAMC Engineering (CAMCE), which constructed six regional hospitals for the Ministry — at Diamond, Enmore, De Kinderen, Bath, Lima and No. 75 Village — all completed and commissioned in 2025.
AN UNAUTHORIZED VISIT — AND A HIGHLY DUBIOUS EXPLANATION
According to VAMED country project manager Diana Lopes, VIKAB personnel, who worked at the site daily, ushered the Chinese contractors past security without notifying VAMED management.
The visit might have gone undetected. But a VAMED employee spotted unfamiliar men walking around in different-colored safety vests and raised the alarm.
Once their presence began attracting attention, the visitors apparently tried to avoid detection. Photographs show one SINOMACH representative removing his identifying vest, seemingly in an attempt to blend in with other workers.
VIKAB knew Lopes was overseas at VAMED’s European headquarters and other key management personnel would be offsite that day. VAMED believes the visit was deliberately timed to avoid scrutiny from senior personnel who might challenge the Chinese contractors’ presence.
Confronted by VAMED personnel, VIKAB mustered up a dubious excuse—that the visitors had come to observe VAMED’s “exemplary standards of construction-site organization, cleanliness, and environmental, health and safety procedures.” Yet VAMED’s own environmental, health and safety manager, David Bennett, had received no notification and was never asked to accompany the visitors or explain the procedures they supposedly came to study.
VIKAB was the Ministry’s appointed supervising engineer, working exclusively on the government’s behalf and under its direction. VAMED immediately documented the incident and lodged a formal complaint with VIKAB and the Ministry. Despite repeated requests, the Ministry has never provided a substantive explanation for the secret visit by representatives of a competing contractor.
THE GOVERNMENT’S FINANCING LAPSE
Just nine days before the unauthorized visit, on November 11, 2025, the Georgetown hospital’s British-backed financing arrangement involving UniCredit Bank Austria and UK Export Finance (UKEF) expired without renewal. VAMED was never informed and discovered the lapse only months later. Meanwhile, it continued investing millions of U.S. dollars of its own money in the Georgetown and New Amsterdam hospitals, paying subcontractors, retaining technical personnel and advancing construction despite prolonged nonpayment.
MONEY. MATERIALS. MANPOWER.
For over a year, the Ministry of Health took unprecedented steps to discourage VAMED so that it would walk away from the two hospital projects. All three were obstructed. Tens of millions of US dollars in certified interim payment certificates (IPCs) remained unpaid; Dozens of containers carrying essential construction materials were stranded at Guyana’s ports awaiting Ministry clearance documentation. Work visas for hundreds of essential workers and technical specialists faced prolonged delays.
VAMED repeatedly appealed to the Ministry to meet its contractual obligations and remove these obstacles. Yet nothing happened; meanwhile, the Ministry continued assuring the company it wanted a negotiated solution.
Yet, on July 23, 2026—eight months after the Chinese contractors’ secret visit—the government terminated VAMED’s hospital contracts.
“WE WERE BEING HOODWINKED”
Dr. João Pedro da Silva Teles, VAMED’s institutional representative in Guyana, did not mince words.
“It’s so clear now what was really going on — for nearly a year, VAMED was being hoodwinked by the Ministry of Health. The Minister and the Permanent Secretary kept assuring us they wanted to find a solution, that they were negotiating in good faith, that there was a way forward,” he said.
“Meanwhile, the payments had stopped. Our construction materials were stranded at the ports. Work visas were slow-walked. And all the while, VAMED continued dipping into its own pockets to keep these hospital projects moving forward,” he added.
“Despite all the skullduggery, we kept going. Because that’s what VAMED does. We finish what we start. We don’t walk away from hospitals we’ve committed to building.”
For VAMED, the secret visit, financing lapse, prolonged obstructions and eventual termination point to a disturbing pattern.
“It’s now becoming pellucidly clear that these weren’t simply isolated incidents of incompetence — although there was certainly plenty of that to go around. What we’re seeing suggests something far more troubling: a coordinated, orchestrated and indeed surreptitious effort on the part of the Ministry to undermine VAMED while pretending to negotiate a solution,” Dr. da Silva Teles continued.
“But VAMED isn’t the real victim of this deception. The real victims are the mothers and children of Guyana, who were promised world-class healthcare and are still waiting for it. I don’t know if what has transpired here is more disheartening or just downright despicable.”
VAMED DEMANDS ANSWERS
VAMED demands that the Ministry explain who authorized the November 20 visit, why Chinese contractors were secretly brought onto its site, and whether plans to replace VAMED were already underway while negotiations supposedly continued.
It must also explain why the project’s financing expired without informing VAMED, which continued committing millions of U.S. dollars to construction.
“The more we learn, the more the pieces fall into place. The Ministry’s supposed efforts to negotiate a resolution now look like an elaborate performance. The promises were hollow. The fix was in,” Dr. da Silva Teles said.
“The Minister and his Permanent Secretary both deserve Oscar nominations for their performances over the past couple of years,” he added. “In retrospect, our biggest mistake was that we took them at their word.”
A WAY FORWARD REMAINS POSSIBLE
VAMED takes no pleasure in airing the Ministry’s dirty laundry. But the government’s actions and continuing false narrative about the hospitals’ breakdown have left it little alternative.
VAMED intends to reveal further details in the weeks and months ahead about specific Ministry decisions, behind-the-scenes maneuvering and conduct that undermined the projects — including new insights into the motivations of the various actors involved.
“We’ve only begun to scratch the surface,” said Dr. da Silva Teles. “There is considerably more to this story than the public has been told. Guyanese citizens will be shocked and outraged as they begin to understand what was really happening behind the scenes involving the Ministry of Health, its appointed engineer VIKAB, and other actors whose roles in undermining these hospital projects have yet to come fully to light.”
Nevertheless, VAMED believes President Irfaan Ali remains uniquely positioned to resolve the dispute, end the obstruction and ensure the promised hospitals are completed.
VAMED came to Guyana to build hospitals. It remains ready to finish them.
