A 41-year-old woman of Number 70 Village, Corentyne, who was pregnant with her fourth child, lost her life at the New Amsterdam Hospital just before delivery around 7.45 pm on Wednesday.
According to a hospital source, Heerawattie ‘Babita’ Cheemanlall’s blood pressure rose just before she went into the labour room. Her full-term baby was not delivered and also died.
The source told Stabroek News that before that the woman, who was admitted to the hospital around 4.30 pm on November 29, was given a cup of tea.
Shortly after, she began experiencing difficulty breathing and the doctor was called but it is not clear if he had reached the room before the woman succumbed.
Her reputed husband, Waziroodeen ‘Azim’ Nizamudin, told this newspaper that she visited her district clinic regularly as well as a private doctor where two ultrasounds were performed.
He said his wife – who had two sons, aged 15 and 17 from a previous marriage and a seven-year-old daughter with him – was healthy throughout the pregnancy.
She was still placed in the high risk clinic two weeks before her date of delivery though because of her age. He said that his wife’s condition was being constantly monitored and that throughout her pregnancy there were no complications.
Nizamudin said his wife visited the doctor on November 29 where another ultrasound and “check up” was done. Although she was not “getting pain” the doctor told him to “take her down [to the hospital] next two hours.”
He recalled that she started having pain when they reached the hospital and by 7.15 the following evening she told him that the pain was “hot.” She also said that the doctor checked her and that everything was ok.
He was shocked therefore when he received a call from the hospital around 8.45 pm with the distressing news about her death.
According to Nizamudin he had already retired to bed when a female voice at the other end of the line asked him if he was ok and that if “anybody else big was around.”
He mentioned that his stepson was there but insisted that she told him what was wrong and she said the woman just died.
At first he did not believe and started dialing his wife’s telephone number. His fears were confirmed after he did not get any response.
He is calling for an investigation into the matter.
Last year maternity deaths had seen a sudden spike with some 18 being recorded up to November, making it the highest in six years. Several of the deaths occurred at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Just last month at their annual conference, midwives were exhorted to keep abreast with the latest knowledge and skills and advances in technology in order to reduce maternal deaths.
