Family protests at NA Hospital, seeking answers over deaths of siblings

Some five weeks after the mysterious deaths of two siblings one day apart from each other, a Berbice family has picketed the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, calling on authorities to provide answers regarding the children’s demise.
Aryanna Mohabir, 9, and her brother Ricardo, 11, died last month. The boy was pronounced dead upon arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital on April 14, while his sister died in the Intensive Care Unit of the same facility on the following day.
Family members say that, to date, they have not received any proper information from authorities regarding the cause of death of either child.

As such, on Wednesday, they decided to stage a protest outside of the New Amsterdam Public Hospital.
During that activity, the children’s mother contended that it was negligence that led to her daughter’s demise.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony had initially told reporters that investigations had revealed that the children had died from dengue complications. But he later explained to this publication that further testing was required, and that samples were taken from both children’s bodies and sent to the lab for analysis. To date, the results of those tests have not been made public.

Family members are contending that they are being kept in the dark. The children’s mother, Rihanna Persaud, has said she had been unable to make contact with hospital officials for some time. On Tuesday they contacted her, she said, because they had heard of the planned protest.
“They suddenly start calling, saying that they want to talk to we. We need justice for Aryanna. Aryanna cannot go so easily. Nothing would not be swept under the carpet for Aryanna. Suddenly we start getting calls after they hear that we coming out to protest. We get feedback from them that they have one report and the next one hasn’t come as yet…From yesterday we started getting contact with them,” she explained.
Arianna Mahabir was admitted as a patient in critical condition at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital on April 15. While preparations were being made to transfer her to the Georgetown Public Hospital, she suffered a cardiac arrest and died in the Intensive Care Unit.
Before her admission, her brother Ricardo had been brought to the hospital on April 14. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
“My son should have been saved if they had the MRI machine here. They could have seen what the fault is, but the hospital doesn’t have these things,” the mother has said.
The son had had a fever, and was being treated at home. However, he became unresponsive, causing the family to rush him to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
The mother had previously stated that she had taken her son to the said medical institution, and several tests had been conducted, including X-rays and an ultrasound, but medical personnel had been unable to come up with a diagnosis.
She said that, on many occasions, her son would cry out for pain in his tummy.
The Health Ministry had said it was investigating both deaths.