– at West Dem Hospital
A recent revelation has indicated that a premature baby died after reportedly being neglected at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, and former Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, is calling for an investigation to be launched to determine the veracity of this revelation.
Irate family members of the newborn have posted pictures and videos of the premature baby on social media, and have herein explained their tragic experience at the medical facility.
One relative has indicated publicly that, just over 5 months of conception, the baby was born at 10:30hrs on March 30, 2017, and doctors at the institution had predicted that the child would not live since its organs were not fully developed. They were prepared to discard the baby in a trash can, but, importantly, the premature baby was born breathing and the child’s mother demanded that it be placed on oxygen.
The doctor at the facility reportedly gave instructions to a porter to monitor the baby’s oxygen. This, family members contend, showed absolute negligence, and had probably contributed to the child dying the following morning.
Grieving family members are calling for justice since, according to them, “The doctors at the West Demerara Hospital did not even try to save the baby.” Efforts made by this newspaper to confirm these claims made by the family members of the new born have proved futile.
However, Dr Ramsammy yesterday released a statement calling on the Ministry of Public Health to launch an immediate investigation to determine the particulars of this matter. “I cannot independently verify the circumstances, but I do know that, as Minister of Health, I would have already sent my senior staff to investigate the story that we see with videos on Facebook about a premature baby born at West Demerara Hospital,” Ramsammy said in the statement.
“Those who worked with me would know that while I would have not made any judgment, I would have insisted that we urgently check out the circumstances that led to the death of the pre-matured baby. The videos of the baby and the circumstances surrounding the death are damning and are searing and heart-rending.”
The Former Health Minister also noted that the video regarding the baby has gone viral and has since crossed international boards. As such, he is unable to understand why the Public Health Ministry has not said anything on the matter, given that it has been over two days since the post has been made public.
