MoH probing death of siblings aged 9 & 11 in Berbice

…“Words can’t express how much they mean to me; dem is me children” – mother

Grieving mother Rihanna Persaud

The deaths of two siblings in Berbice over the weekend have left their parents in shock and in state of confusion with more questions than answers.

The Ministry of Health has since intervened to launch an investigation into the situation.
The dead children were identified as nine-year-old Arianna Mohabeer, who died on Monday, and 11-year-old Ricardo Mohabeer, who died on Sunday.
The family, who resides at New Area Canefield, East Canje, Berbice, is demanding answers, and more importantly, justice.
“Words can’t express how much they mean to me; dem is me children (sigh),” the children’s mother, Rihanna Persaud said in an interview with the media on Thursday.
Persaud, who has two other children aged 15 and 3, explained that her 11-year-old son had a fever for two days, and she was treating him at home, however, he became unresponsive on Sunday, causing her to rush him to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
The lad was pronounced dead on arrival. An autopsy has since been performed on the child’s body.

Arianna Mohabeer and her brother Ricardo Mohabeer

“They say that he had cyst-like cancer inside his belly. He used to cry out for belly pain and I does carry him to the hospital and they would do all kind of tests; ultrasound, X-ray and everything and they not finding no complaint, what wrong with him really,” the mother cried.
Even before her son was rushed to the hospital, his sister was already a patient there, having been admitted on Saturday, also with a fever.
According to Persaud, she was not in the best of health and so her sister and cousin were taking turns to stay with the nine-year-old while she was in the medical facility. The mother related that the hospital was treating her daughter for dengue.
“Me ask them what they giving her and they say they giving her Panadol syrup and antibiotic.”
The 30-year-old mother said on Monday an injection was administered to her daughter.

“My sister say the nurse come and give her an injection and then she start to flutter and she fall and my sister grabble her and called the nurse and showed her what happening. The nurse tell her to give my daughter something sweet to drink. From since they give she the injection, the child start getting more heavy fever and falling more sick. Then at the last, they tell me that with the bacteria it cause a lung infection and so fluid in her lung and if it keep coming up, it could cause difficulty breathing which could be life-threatening,” Persaud related.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Thursday, the Health Ministry stated that it was while preparations were being made to transfer the little girl to the Georgetown Public Hospital, she suffered cardiac arrest and died in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The statement noted too that the boy was brought into the hospital on Sunday, with no signs of life.
Nevertheless, the Ministry committed to a full investigation into both incidents.
“Me understand all dem thing, but what I am saying is that I still need justice for her, because they force and push up a ‘pee bag’ (bag attached to a catheter [tube] that is inside your bladder and buss up this child. They buss up my daughter.”
The woman said after she was told that her daughter had dengue, medical personnel asked that she and her husband visit the New Amsterdam Hospital to get tested, but when they arrived at the medical institution, they were told that there were no strips available to carry out the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests.
The aggrieved mother described her now-dead children as mannerly and always willing when called upon. They leave to mourn their parents, two siblings, and other relatives. (Andrew Carmichael)