One arrested as patients, staff clash at Skeldon Hospital

One person was arrested on Thursday after Police were called in following a dispute at the Skeldon Hospital over the slow pace at which medications were being issued by staff at the medical facility.
According to reports received, patients became agitated when the already slow process was further delayed by medical personnel showing favouritism to their friends in the line.

Patients allege that the process to get registered and have their prescriptions filled was taking several hours. As such, they were venting their frustration and disgust at the system when the Police were called in, resulting in one man being arrested and taken to the Springlands Police Station.
A patient related that he had arrived at the hospital at 6:00h, and by noon (12:00h) he was not registered. He left without getting his prescription filled.
Sursattie Mangra of Number 64 Village Corentyne said she arrived at the hospital at about 9:00h accompanying her sister, but upon her arrival, she noticed that the line was unusually long.
“It didn’t take us like fifteen minutes to see the doctor, and when we came back out the line was very long. What we noticed is that people from the side were getting their papers registered and not those in the line, and the line (kept) getting longer; so I called on the lady inside and asked her what is happening, so she said that they have clinic patients and out-patient”, Mangra related.
Adding to the already frustrating episode, Mangra said, the patients were also being verbally abused by staff members.
“You cannot come to a public hospital and be treated like dogs. That is what all of the patents keep saying all the time — that (staff members) have to know how to speak to people. Most of the patients went away without their prescription, because it is not registered,” the woman related.
After patients started to voice their concerns and express their frustration, the window that they were being attended through was locked, and as such, many persons went away without having their prescriptions filled.
Meanwhile, over at the Springlands Police Station, Mangra was questioned and then released after the Director of Health Services, Jevaughn Stephens, was contacted.
Stephens told this publication that the regular staff members were not on duty on Thursday, and based on a briefing, he the staff that worked might not have been aware of the procedure.
However, he said he would be meeting with his staff to discuss the issue.