The Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI), Mount Sinai Health System, and the Guyana Ministry of Health have announced the launch of the Guyana Digital Health Training Institute (DHTI). This initiative will support Guyana in advancing its ambitious digital health vision to enhance care delivery and quality across the country.
The new institute will serve as a center of excellence for the development of a digital health workforce for Guyana. It will help ensure that the country’s health system has the technical and operational expertise needed to successfully transition to technology-enabled delivery of vital services, beginning with the implementation of a national Electronic Health Record (EHR) system that will enhance efficiency and patient care. A key barrier in fully implementing this system is the limited availability of trained health information systems and technology professionals in the country, which the Institute will address. In its first three years, the Institute will train more than 250 digital health professionals, building the highly skilled workforce needed to drive a digitally sophisticated health system and securing a long-term pipeline of talent for the country’s future.
Guyana’s Minister of Health, Hon. Frank Anthony, MD, MPH, underscored the importance of cultivating a workforce to advance the digital transformation and future of health care delivery in Guyana. “While it’s easy to buy technology, to buy equipment, the transformation would not happen without getting people to run these systems,” Minister Anthony said. “That is why it is so important that we invest in training” people across Guyana.
The Guyana DHTI is a key component of the GGI-funded National Health Information Systems and Technology Workforce Development Program, which will prepare and sustain a health workforce to provide leadership and support for Guyana’s National Health Information System Initiative.
“Accurate and accessible health information leads to safer care, faster clinical decisions, and better outcomes for every patient who enters a health facility,” said Alistair Routledge, President, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, representing GGI. “It also creates new career paths for young people in all 10 regions, strengthening local talent and positioning Guyana as a leader in digital health in the Caribbean.”
“Guyana has a bold vision and plan for digital health transformation that will be life-changing for the entire country,” said Rachel Vreeman, MD, MS, Mount Sinai’s Executive Director of the Guyana Health Initiative, and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Health System Design and Director of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We are proud to partner with the Guyana Ministry of Health to train the skilled workforce that will make this transformation possible by growing capacity to strategically implement digital health solutions for Guyana. We are also grateful to GGI for their crucial support of this initiative, which will achieve their goals by fostering high-revenue employment in Guyana.”
The Guyana DHTI will offer free online training, both live and independently, to facilitate participation from across the country. A fast-track program will be launched on Monday, January 19, with up to 65 trainees—50 secondary school graduates and 15 health technologists from Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, the country’s largest hospital, and the public health system. An expanded comprehensive training program will launch in early 2026 and will include training in user support, health IT, and data science. Students who complete training through the DHTI will enter the Guyana Digital Health Service Corps and work for one year at health facilities that are implementing or have implemented the EHR system. This will build their digital health skills and embed them in the system, helping Guyana retain this highly skilled workforce and establish this new employment sector.
“The innovative Guyana Digital Health Training Institute positions the country to serve as a model for the region and globally, establishing a center of excellence in digital training,” said Jeb Weisman, PhD, Director of Global Health Informatics at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health. “Mount Sinai is excited about the transformative opportunities this Institute will create for Guyana’s workforce and health system, and we are proud to partner with the Ministry of Health to help make it possible.”
