A nine-year-old girl is now dead, and her five siblings are patients at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) as a result of suspected food poisoning.
Dead is Anna Dyal of Kaow Kaow, Bartica, who succumbed at the Bartica Hospital.
According to a press release from the Public Relations Office of the GPH, the surviving patients; four-year-old Akeisha Roberts, seven-year-old Amanda Roberts, ten-year-old Shondell Rupertie, 14-year-old Juney Dyal and 15-year-old Orvin Rupertie were all listed as stable, conscious and oriented.
Stabroek News was able to speak with Latchmin Dyal, the mother of the children, as she was keeping watch over her three youngest surviving daughters at the Paediatric Ward of the GPH. According to her, on Friday she went out to Monkey Jump with the three girls, while the older siblings and their 76-year-old grandfather remained at home. Dyal said that when they returned on Saturday afternoon, she discovered cooked chicken in the pot and after making enquiries was told that the children who had been left at home had bought and cooked the meat, which they ate. The woman continued that since she had brought bread with her, she made some tea and they all had that for dinner, “and everybody de alright”, after which they all watched a movie then retired to bed.
Around 5 am on Sunday, Dyal recounted, her 15-year-old woke up and began a bout of vomiting, and he was soon followed by Anna whose symptoms were worse than his. As a result, Anna was taken by Dyal and her 13-year-old daughter, who is unaffected by the symptoms, to the Bartica Hospital in their Yamaha speedboat. While there, the woman said, she received a call from a neighbour informing her that all the other children along with their grandfather were experiencing vomiting and diarrhoea. As, she could not return for the others herself, Dyal said, she called her eldest daughter who lives at Monkey Jump and had her transport them to the hospital.
At around 2 pm Anna died at the hospital and as a result the others, save for the grandfather, were rushed to the GPH. They arrived around 1.30 am yesterday and were admitted.
Dyal related that during the ordeal, Anna also suffered a seizure, which is a second-time experience for her, the first being when she was four years old.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old Juney Dyal and 15-year-old Orvin Rupertie are currently in the Female and Male Medical Wards respectively. Their children’s grandfather whose name was given only as ‘Labba’, up to press time, was still a patient of the Bartica Hospital.
Investigations are continuing into the incident.
