Following of the death of Natasha Vieira a week ago in the Observation Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital, measures have been to put in place to help reduce the likelihood of a recurrence.
Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy told the media yesterday that a security guard had now been posted near the ward and a patient advocate was in the ward at nights. These actions have been put in place by the hospital.
Questioned about the status of the investigation, he replied that they were awaiting the final report from the pathologist.
The Health Minister said he had been told that at the time of the incident the nurses were asleep, and if this were indeed the case, those nurses would be disciplined. He expressed his disappointment that all the staff could have been asleep.
Meanwhile asked about the patient who committed the act, the minister said that several patients had taken responsibility for Vieira’s death.
Vieira died two Saturdays ago after she was reportedly thrown off her bed and choked by another inmate. A release from the hospital said that the young woman had been discovered with marks of violence around her neck and after being seen by a doctor she had been pronounced dead at around 5 am.
However the police subsequently said that she had been found lying on the floor next to her bed with blood oozing from her mouth. She had been lifted off her bed and thrown onto the floor, according to the release issued by the police.
Vieira was admitted to the hospital’s Paediatric Ward in 1996 when she was nine years old and had remained in hospital until she died.
