Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said the probe ordered by the President into the death of Dr. Desrey Fox is ongoing and he insists that no report of any findings has been made public because “people are still working.”
The team set up to investigate the treatment the Minister received at the Georgetown Public Hospital was only recently identified, Ramsammy said. He noted that at least one private citizen is included in the panel, but declined to disclose the other members.
Ramsammy told Stabroek News on Thursday that the team commenced its work and is operating with a timeline which runs into the next three weeks. When completed, the report would be submitted to the Health Ministry before it is forwarded to Cabinet for its perusal.
The team is working independently, according to Ramsammy. “I have not been in touch with any of them. In fact, am deliberately not making contact because I am not supposed to,” he stated. The current investigation falls outside of the Ministry’s purview, and it follows an earlier probe carried out by the Ministry.
The Ministry had initiated its own probe and a report was submitted to Ramsammy. The report was not released, but the Minister had said earlier he was satisfied with the response by the hospital staff. He said then that the staff acted in a manner appropriate for the injuries. The content of the Ministry’s report is not likely to be released “anytime now,” Ramsammy said, citing the ongoing probe. He also declined to respond to questions surrounding certain contents of the report being leaked. “It would be prejudicial for us to say what is in our report when a team is carrying out its own investigations, it is something we would not do,” the Minister said.
Last month President Bharrat Jagdeo called for a probe in to Dr. Fox’s hospital care, saying he does not understand how she died after sustaining some fractures. He said too he is not satisfied with the initial report from the hospital. “I have asked for a full investigation as to the circumstances of her passing,” the President said. “I am yet to see that report. I gather that an oral presentation was made to the Minister of Health [Dr Leslie Ramsammy] and I am not satisfied with that. I need to see a comprehensive report and I have raised this at the Cabinet… and once we examine that report then you would hear further from the government,” he added.
The President’s call followed public concerns raised by Opposition Leader Robert Corbin as to what caused the Minister’s death. He questioned whether Fox died as a result of the injuries sustained during the accident or whether “there were any intervening events such as professional negligence at the Georgetown Hospital that contributed to her sudden death.” Subsequent to this, the Health Minister responded saying it would be difficult for anyone to make a case that the hospital was not providing round-the-clock care to Fox.
Fox was admitted to the GPH on December 8 after she was tossed through the rear windscreen of her car following a three-vehicle smash-up in the city. A female passenger, Andrea De Santos and a two-year-old child, Carlos Fox, who were also travelling in Fox’s car, were also admitted to the GPH. The minister was admitted to the High Dependency Unit of the hospital and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit on December 11, hours before she succumbed to her injuries.
