Georgetown - Advice or feedback

Travel to any new country can be scary and sadly bad news is easier to find than good ones. Is there any particular information that you would like to receive? What are your major concerns? Let us start there.

Thanks Starboek Solutions.

I am very concerned about violent crimes and the Covid-19 situation in Georgetown.

I am thinking of renting a home in Windsor Estate. Is this compound really secured as they've claimed; have you heard of any history of armed robbery or break in there?

Is it safer to employ a local driver cum bodyguard to drive me to the supermarket or open markets rather than driving and parking the car by myself? Or would that create more attention?
If yes, how much is the monthly salary for a driver?

How is the Covid-19 pandemic handled in Georgetown? Can the hospitals currently cope with these cases? Which is the best, most reliable hospital for expats to go to.........is this hospital allowed to treat Covid-19 patients too?

These are my most urgent main concerns and would greatly appreciate if you can enlighten me on these topics.

Thank you.

You're welcome, xryne.

With regards to the COVID-19 situation, masks are required in public, contact tracing and testing are being down, all schools are closed and virtual learning is available, persons entering the country are required to follow the guidelines below and the government has a gazetted list of COVID-19 guidelines that we can send to you.

Some indigenous and mining communities did have significantly high number of cases, but they have been reopened following lockdowns and treatment of those cases. We understand that the increase in the number of infected persons seems like the situation is rapidly becoming hard to manage.  Please consider that the number of persons being testing has increased, private hospitals are now offering testing and there was a significant backlog of persons awaiting results that is  being addressed.

The public hospitals have been restructured to handled the COVID-19 patients. In Georgetown, the Diamond Diagnostic Centre is now exclusively for COVID-19 patients, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation accommodates and treats COVID-10 patients as well. From March (when Guyana's first COVID-19 case was recorded) to present, a new Infectious Disease Hospital has been established and is in the process of being equipped. Guyana does not have any experience with SARS, Ebola or any other infectious diseases, but the country has appropriately responded to the current pandemic. I will leave the following link with you to have a quick view of the new hospital: https://m.facebook.com/mophguyana/video … /?sfnsn=wa 

To our best knowledge, the private facilities that are offering testing are: St. Joseph's Mercy Medical Hospital (commonly referred to as: Mercy Hospital), Eureka Medical Laboratory and Sheriff Medical Center. Mercy Hospital does offer treatment and would be recommended for the expats***.

Employing an armed driver is a personal decision. ***   Keep in mind that all major supermarkets provide secure parking and curbside pick-up. Once you arrive early at the local markets parking is available at the stalls. In case you're more comfortable staying at home due to COVID-19 or just to give yourself time to get familiar with the country, all major supermarkets provide delivery services and
market vendors provide curbside pick-up and delivery services.

With that being said, you should consider having a driver during your settling-in process, simply to educate you on the streets, one-ways (which are not all marked) and high risk areas (some companies provide a list to expat workers).

Renting a home in Windsor Estate is a solid choice. It is as safe as it is advertised to be, break-ins and armed robberies have a very low probability. No one can enter the community without a member of that community giving security permission to allow their entry. ***

We hope that we're properly addressed your major concerns. Should you have any other concerns, please free to let us know and we'll continue the conversation.

Thanks Stabroek Solutions,
I appreciate all those valuable informations.

I have also visited your website and will contact you once my husband's job posting to Guyana is confirmed.
Do you have the name of the person I should contact by phone for more detailed discussions regarding our relocation?

Thank you once again.

Hello xryne and Stabroek Solutions,

Please note that a new thread has been created on the Guyana forum with your posts.

@ xryne: Welcome to Expat.com With a stand-alone thread, your question gets to be highlighted and hence becomes more visible to members who wish to provide guidance.

@ Stabroek Solutions: Thank you for your lengthy, informative post. Nonetheless, the external links you have shared as well as the promotion of your services had to be removed due to advertising not being allowed. You may go through our Guyana Forum Code of Conduct for more posting guidelines.

Thanks,

Diksha
Team Expat.com