A pensioner, who was struck down by a minibus on Friday along the Public Road at Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara (WCD), died yesterday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and relatives are blaming health officials for his death citing negligence.
Sixty-one-year-old Tikiram Khalika of Fourth Street, Anna Catherina, WCD, died shortly after 8 am yesterday at the GPH after he was transferred there from the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) around 11 pm on Friday. Khalika died in the Accident and Emergency Unit of the GPH, where he remained since his transfer from West Demerara late Friday night.
The driver of the minibus was in police custody but Khalika’s relatives said they understood that he was released.
The man’s relatives are also claiming that while he was at the WDRH, doctors took hours to transfer him to the city, even though his condition was critical, since he sustained a punctured lung. They said Khalika was first taken to the Leonora Hospital and was transferred to the WDRH around 7 pm. He then had to wait until 11 pm to be transferred to the GPH, since doctors had transferred another patient in the ambulance instead of him. He had to then wait until the ambulance returned.
Khalika’s niece, Jayashree Sarjoo, said after doctors at the WDRH stated that her uncle’s condition was critical, they told her he would be transferred to Georgetown in the same ambulance with the other patient. Instead, he was left behind, while the other patient was transferred.
Recounting the sequence, Sarjoo said that her uncle, who usually slept at her home at night since her mother died, had left her home and gone on the road to purchase something around 4 pm on Friday.
She said he was riding his bicycle when he was struck down by a minibus around 4.30 pm. He was knocked unconscious.
The woman said she did not know much about the accident, but added that her uncle was rushed to the Leonora Hospital where he was given oxygen. She also said that while at Leonora, there was no ambulance to transfer Khalika to the WDRH and when relatives offered to arrange for the sugar estate ambulance to take him, doctors at the institution insisted that arrangement would not be possible since it was “a police matter”.
Sarjoo said the ambulance to take Khalika from Leonora to WDRH was in Georgetown causing them to wait about an hour before it came. When Khalika was finally transferred, doctors at West Demerara Hospital indicated to his relatives that he would be transferred to the hospital in the city.
He was then placed in the ambulance but was removed shortly after and left without oxygen for about half an hour although one of his lungs was punctured, his family stated.
Sarjoo said her uncle was placed in the ambulance for a second time only to be taken out again. When he was taken out the second time, she said, doctors indicated to them that they would have to wait until the ambulance took another patient to the city and returned before Khalika could be transferred since only one person can fit in the ambulance.
At this point, relatives said, they began to inquire whether Khalika could be transferred to a private hospital, because of the delay and given his serious condition, but doctors at the hospital declined. This even caused one relative to get into an argument with one of the nurses, Sarjoo said.
After the hours of waiting, Khalika was finally transferred to the GPH and taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit. He remained in the triage area from 11 pm on Friday until his death around 8 am yesterday. He never regained consciousness.
The man’s relatives believe that the long hours he spent waiting to receive medical care and them not being allowed by doctors to transfer him to a private hospital resulted in his death. They are also calling on health officials to investigate.
