Three weeks after being injured in a two-vehicle collision in Essequibo, vendor Bassmattie Bissoon is still a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) awaiting another surgery to fix her dislocated jaw, while the 18-year-old driver who caused the accident is still to be charged.
The driver was reportedly drunk at the time and Stabroek News was told that he is still hospitalized. During a visit to the hospital on Saturday, Bissoon’s sister-in-law, Pam told Stabroek News that the family has spent over $100,000 for hospital expenses and now faces a $35,000 bill for dentures. Pam explained that Bissoon’s jaw is out of place and she has to be fed with a syringe.
She said the doctors are supposed to do a readjustment surgery and the family is required to have dentures made-to-order to assist with the procedure. These dentures, Pam said, have to be made at a private hospital since GPH does not cater for this and it costs about $35,000. The woman noted that in addition to the cost of the dentures, they have to find money to buy milk for Bissoon, who is unable to eat any solid food. Apart from being unable to eat, a tube has been installed into Bissoon’s throat to aid in her breathing, and though conscious, she is unable to talk.
At around 5:30pm on October 7, Bissoon and her relatives were in their white van heading home from the Anna Regina market when a green car driven by Vishal Dhanraj slammed into their vehicle. All the occupants of the van which included Bissoon, her two sisters, her niece-in-law and her daughter, the driver of their vehicle, as well as Dhanraj were hospitalized. Since then four out of the seven victims have been discharged, while Bissoon, her niece Sunisha Singh – whose legs were broken – and Dhanraj remain hospitalized. Bissoon was the most seriously injured.
Pam said that since the accident and since Bissoon was hospitalized, Dhanraj’s relatives have not ventured to see her or enquire about her well-being “and he is the cause of her being here”.
Bissoon’s husband has visited the Aurora police station to find out about the matter but was told that they “can’t do anything until everybody come out the hospital”. Pam and the other relatives complained that Dhanraj’s relatives did not even offer to compensate or to pay for some of the injuries she or the others suffered or for their van which was their main means of taking goods to be sold in the market.
