A Berbice woman is now dead after a power failure occurred at the New Amsterdam Hospital while she was undergoing surgery on Sunday, January 20.
Tirtawattie Shoandeo, 47, of Lot 129 Whim Village, Corentyne, Berbice, died a day after she was admitted to the institution with pain in her abdomen. According to the woman’s son, Yuvraj Shoandeo, his mother was rushed into emergency surgery after doctors at the institution could not find anything wrong with her following an x-ray.
Shoandeo told this newspaper that prior to his mother’s visit to the New Amsterdam Hospital he had taken her to a private doctor in Corriverton where an ultra sound was done, which showed no abnormalities. Despite this, he said, his mother continued to cry out for pain in the left side of her abdomen. As a result, he then took her to another private doctor on the Corentyne who told them that “something was growing in her belly”. This doctor referred them to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Shoandeo said he took his mother to the hospital and doctors at the institution admitted her on January 19. An x-ray was performed, but it did not show anything wrong so the doctors gave her saline, he said. They also told him that an emergency surgery had to be performed on her and the explanation for this was that something was growing in her.
The woman’s son said that later that Saturday her husband visited her but did not receive an update on her condition.
Shoandeo said he also visited his mother later on and he inquired from the doctor if she needed blood or anything for the surgery because the private doctor he had taken her to had warned him that if his mother were to have an operation, she would need blood.
The man said the doctor replied to his question by asking him if he was doing his (the doctor’s) work. Later that night the woman was taken into surgery. About 15 minutes after,