2 more Wakapao family members hospitalised at GPHC

Suspected poisoning

Two additional relatives of Selena Thomas of Wakapao, Pomeroon River, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), who died of suspected poisoning on Monday at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), were also admitted at the institution on Tuesday morning.

This would bring the number of family members currently being treated there to eight as six were admitted on Monday for suspected poisoning after they reportedly ate cassava bread which may have been contaminated. A relative told Guyana Times on Tuesday that Thomas’s cousin, Richard Thomas, and a niece, had to be rushed to the hospital after continuous vomiting and abdominal pains on Monday night.
The relative further said that the two visited Selena Thomas’s residence last week and also ate the cassava bread. She said Thomas baked some eight cakes of cassava bread last week which they were consuming and sharing with their family. “She baked about 8 cakes of cassava bread and that’s what they were using all the time. And when family come over they would share and so…this was the norm but they didn’t imagine something was wrong with it or anything like that,” the relative said.
She said that the Thomas family is peaceful and lived neighbourly with everyone in their community so it is unclear whether someone would have intentionally poisoned their farm. “They live well with everybody. They are very peaceful and never had problems with anyone in the village or so. But other family believe that they were poisoned,” the relative added.
Selena Thomas, 38, died around midday while receiving treatment at the GPHC on Monday. Her family members remain patients at the said institution.
Her father is in critical condition, while her husband, father-in-law, and brother are reportedly in stable condition.
A relative told Guyana Times on Monday that the family fell ill on Friday after consuming the cassava, which they reaped from their farm.
She explained that soon after eating the cassava, they complained of stomach pains.
“They were fine. But they ate cassava which they get from their farm. They prepared it as a meal and then they started to vomit and they were getting bad pains to their stomach. It was the only thing all of them eat the morning,” the distraught woman related.
The relative added that they reportedly fed the same food to two of their dogs – both of which later died. It was at this point that they suspected that their farm may have been poisoned.
She related that Thomas and her husband both visited the health centre at Wakapao on Friday for treatment. However, they were referred to the Suddie Hospital, but owing to the severity of their condition, they, along with other members of the household, were transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Meanwhile, a nurse at the medical facility confirmed that the family is being monitored for food poisoning and noted that at least one member is in a very critical state.
The nurse added that doctors suspected that the food which they consumed was contaminated.
An investigation has since been launched into the incident as officials were deployed to the community. When contacted on Tuesday, Regional Chairman Davanand Ramdatt told Guyana Times that there were no updates on the matter.