Family calls for full probe following death of 3-month-old girl

Four days after being given four injections at the Number 64 Health Centre in Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), three-month-old Tishika Latchminarine took her last breath.
The child’s parents believe that she died from adverse reactions to the injections and as such, are calling on authorities to launch a proper probe.
The child was born on November 12, 2023, weighing 980 grams as a 28-week or premature baby at the Skeldon Hospital.
The baby and her mother, Sheeliza Latchminarine were transported to the New Amsterdam Hospital where the child was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and remained there for two months.
However, during her stay in the NICU, she was given the BCG vaccine on January 30, 2024. According to the infant’s mother, she was asked to take the child to the Number 64 Village Health Centre for a check-up on February 14.
“When I take her they checked her length, her head, and everything. They told me that she has to receive four injections; two on her left arm, one on her right and one to drink which is a drop.”
The injections administered were Rotavirus for diarrhoea; the IPV, which is a Polio vaccine; and PVC-13 which is to fight against pneumonia. The child also received the Hep B vaccine.
According to a source from the health centre, since the child was a premature baby, the chances of her picking up an infection were very high.
The source explained those injections are usually administered to babies at age 2 months but in Tishika’s case, they were given at three months.
The source also pointed out that most children are born with an Apgar score of 8, 9, or 10, but Tishika’s Apgar score was 2, 3 and 5.
The Apgar score is a quick way for health professionals to evaluate the health of all newborns at 1 and 5 minutes after birth. The higher the score, the better the baby is doing after birth.
The 33-year-old mother said that her baby started to cry after receiving the vaccines.
“The nurse told me ‘if she get fever to take her to the hospital, but no medication at home’. So, I was waiting for the fever, but the baby didn’t get any fever but she has other symptoms.”
According to the mother, by Wednesday afternoon, her daughter started acting unusually.
“She was drinking her feed slowly, she was not crying and just sleeping and it keep getting worse until Saturday afternoon when she went down more. She went to sleep very early in the night and she was not crying for her feed.”
She said on Sunday morning, the child refused to feed.
“I run to the hospital and I told the nurse that my baby is not reacting too much. The nurse run with her into the room, they pressed her heart and then put the oxygen mask over her face. They were getting 70 per cent heartbeat. Within 10 minutes she came and told me that my baby was gone,” the woman, who is also mother to a 10-year-old daughter, said as she broke down in tears.
The Latchminarines are calling for a proper investigation into the death of their child.
Initially, the mother said she did not want a post-mortem to be performed on the body but has since changed her mind. When they informed the Regional Health Authority of their decision, the family was told that they would have to contact the pathologist. (G4)